The Eternal Cycle
by ZF IAnswerToNoOne
Summary: The war against Amon is over. The Terrans and Protoss create an alliance after a 20 year unofficial ceasefire. When the Zerg join, the Sector has nothing to worry about, right? Well, what about the discovery of a new government and an enemy that could be worse than Amon? FemShep.
1. Chapter 1

Alright, this is my new fanfic. First off, REALLY BLIZZARD? HOW DARE YOU KILL ZERATUL? OK, Zeratul survives because he 'shadow blinked' behind Artanis and severed his nerve cords without DYING. Fine plot sadness and all that but really? After 400 some years you still don't know how to beat another Protoss with your abilities. Sad. I'm not sure whether Shepard will be male or female, tell me! Everyone is following Terran time 24/7/365. It is year 2508.

The Batarian pirate has nothing to do with Barack Obama. It is just an actual name from the games. I hold no grudge with the US or its presidents. Maybe the next ones but...

* * *

Zeratul's *Void Seeker

29/03/2498

As he sped through space to yet another prophecy that he may have discovered, Zeratul sat waiting. He had seen the one involving Kerrigan, at the expense of High Templar Karass' life. Bowing his head, he stared at his destination. On the planet Shakuras, he had heard from the Preservers of another prophecy, hidden from the other Firstborn. As he went to his home, he thought of the prophecy that might be there. He reached Shakuras and landed at the coordinates that the Preservers had provided. What he had found was an ancient altar, even for the Protoss. As he looked at the altar, he saw what others couldn't. He saw Zerus, homeworld of the Zerg, and saw something else. Something sinister. Massive beings floated through the void as worlds fell. He saw both the future, and the past. It showed the death of worlds and The architecture was obviously not Protoss so unless it was from the Aeon of Strife, the rock predated the Protoss. He shivered. There may be a time for that prophecy, but it is not now. He reentered his Void Seeker to begin his long journey to Zerus.

* * *

17/03/12

0328 Hours Shipboard Time

Hyperion

Marshall James Raynor of Raynor's Raiders relaxed into his seat.

"Alright Junior, what is it." Like most Terrans, Raynor didn't beat around the bush and asked the new Emperor, Valerian Mengsk.

"Well, a Dominion patrol group discovered a device in space. It's in orbit around one of the Outer Colonies' satellite. We would like Stetmann, Swann and Dr. Hanson to help the Dominion scientists."

Raynor considered it. Stetmann was the best scientist the Raiders had. Swann was the best engineer, while Hanson was an amazing biochemist. All were good friends of his, but in the end he turned to Valerian. "This is their lives they're risking Junior, ask them. You know me, I'm much more likely to approve their leave then not. And good job building up the Dominion, Junior."

In the years after defeating *Amon, (2506) the three factions of the Koprulu Sector declared an unofficial truce. All of them were so weak that they all knew an attack would devastate them all, even the Zerg. The Terrans would most likely join the Protoss in hopes of defeating the Zerg. In the 2 years that the truce had been active, the Terrans had added about 50 *Minotaur-class Battlecruisers, 2 *Gorgon-class Battlecruisers and a single unofficial *Loki-class Battlecruiser, bringing the total count to 4. While the Protoss and Zerg had also had time to prepare for another war, everyone knew that they didn't want another one. 4 years ago today, was a historic day though, as that was the day that the Terrans and Protoss would officially sign a ceasefire and form the New Union.

Jim sighed, remembering that day.

There wasn't a single Terran that wasn't looking at a holo projector in the entire sector. Even the most notorious pirates and scumbags were watching. But as the proceedings began and when the quill finally finished, every Terran burst out in cheers, started crying, or did nothing. No matter what, never did either party expect what would happen next.

* * *

Neutral Territory *Spear of Adun

Terran-Protoss Signing

17/03/08

-1500 Hours

As the quill stopped moving and both parties had shaken hands, a warning klaxon came through the ship. Every Protoss' eyes widened. "Zerg!"

As Terrans and Protoss alike charged to find defensive positions, the single Overlord had surprised everyone. Even if it was a single Overlord, thousands of Interceptors, Vikings, Wraiths and other fighters, along with all the main guns of the capital ships, had their weapons trained on it. After it entered the Spear, it flew faster than any Overlord had been able to go. Flying past all of the defenses, it dropped off the single most hated form of most Terrans, the Queen of Blades, but what she did next surprised everyone. With a slight flourish, she signed the contract right next to the names of Valerian and Artanis.

* * *

Spear Of Adun

17/03/08

-1303 Hours

Kerrigan laughed at the shocked expressions of the Terrans and Protoss. As she watched, Raynor, Valerian, Artanis, Zeratul, and their escorts slowly lowered their weapons as the Protoss felt no deception or ill intent from her, just an actual sense of grim amusement.

"What are you staring at me for? I signed the contract." Raynor stared at Kerrigan for several seconds. Then, he burst out laughing.

"Well darlin', that's one way so scare everyone to Char and back."

* * *

Koprulu Sector

18/03/08

When news of the Zerg signing the contract reached the Terrans and Protoss, there were mixed reactions, including fear, joy and rage. While the Terrans had no problem with the Protoss, the Zerg was another story. But, all of their most influential leaders supported this alliance so there wasn't much they could do about it. But even so, creating the Union would prove to be a wise move since there were no other large factions in the Sector. The 3 had rebuilt their militaries and colonies without the threat of war. The Terrans could now keep 2 Battlecruisers in orbit around each Dominion colony, and have another ready as a fast response. The Kel-Morian pirates were still there, but were given amnesty and a planet to colonize without fear of a Dominion attack. While the Protoss and Terrans were both wary of the Zerg, there were no reported incidents across any attacks from the Zerg, even when provoked.

On another note, apparently, Abathur had created a unit that would produce a natural form of Neosteel that would be stronger and more flexible than Neosteel now. With the creature, which many called a Smithery, the Dominion could produce a hundred Battlecruisers a year instead of the 20 or so before the Smithery's. Abathur had also given the Protoss one as well, and the Protoss production rate exploded. The *Creators constructed buildings so that the Protoss could warp them in. All three races were finally relaxing around each other when the unexpected happened. Never did the Union expect another species from outside of the Sector.

* * *

Unregistered Relay

Geth Expeditionary Fleet

30/05/12

-0900 Cycles

As the Geth ran around checking instruments, the Commander of the fleet sat in a his chair. Wondering what the Consensus would find, the Geth outside activated the Relay. Once it was activated, he stood and sent the fleet through.

* * *

Dominion Space

Unknown Device

30/05/12

-0905 Hours

When the device's rings surrounding the core started spinning and the core began to glow while sending lightning out, civilian ships immediately left the area.

Dr. Egon Stetmann sat up in his chair as he watched the device slowly start spinning up and presumably, powering up. As he watched, the previously dormant core starter glowing a bright blue. Looking at the screen, he freaked out a little bit.

"Ariel, the device appears to have the ability to alter the mass of any object! With this, we could make an, I don't know, a Battlecruiser weigh the same amount as a Science Vessel!"

Dr. Ariel Hanson was amazed. A particle that could alter the mass of an object would have unimaginable effects on Union society.

"We would need a lot of this stuff though. It looks like the bigger the object the more of this stuff we need. I need a sample… Pilot! Get as close as we safely can! I need a sample of this stuff!"

"Are you sure? That might not be the best idea…" the pilot, a young man with brown hair and wearing a baseball cap of all things questioned.

""Yes I'm sure! This could change the lives of Union civilians and military on and unimaginable level! I need a sample to study!" Both doctors said with total synchronization.

"Alright then," As the pilot, or Jeff, 'Joker' Moreau said. "Ah, , the 2 doctors are both ordering me to move close to the.. thing. They want a sample to study. Permission to move closer?"

The word granted came without hesitation.

"I don't know 'bout this. We don't know anything about this thing and it could add to our weight and we wouldn't be able to move." Swann said. Internally, he was just as curious about this thing as the other two, but he was just being cautious.

"It doesn't matter. We need to find out what this thing could do."

When the Science Vessel came within a kilometer of the device, the blue lightning reached out into space and suddenly, there were ships appearing all around the Science Vessel. One nearly colliding with them.

They looked like metal beetles and did nothing once they came out. The single Dominion Battlecruiser assigned to protect the civilians and media, the _Fenrir_ , held its bulk in between the newcomers and the civilian ships that were trying to escape. When the 'beetles' stopped coming out of the device they established a communications to the _Fenrir's_ Adjutant. Requesting permission to dock, the beatles, now identified as Geth cruisers, held position with their weapons active, but not aimed at the _Fenrir._ When the Adjutant told the captain what the Geth wanted, they were interested. It wasn't everyday that there was a First Contact, but the 2 First Contacts that the Terrans had were both hostile, so there was a reason for that fear. Nevertheless, the Terran captain, Lieutenant Major Mohammed-Ali Hassan Nataj-Azizi allowed the Geth to land on the _Fenrir_ , but still sent a message to the Emperor informing him of the situation and asked all Union ships in the area to be ready for a call for aid. Zerg Leviathans could now answer and receive transmissions from Terran and Protoss ships because of a metal antenna the into Leviathan that could vibrate to the required frequency and pick it up. But when the Geth deployed a dropship, all the Terrans were ready for a bad encounter while hoping for a good one.

* * *

The _Fenrir'_ s Landing Bay

Lieutenant Major Alphonso Fowler

30/05/12

-0910 Hours

As he stood there with 2 Hercs beside him, Alphonso waited and watched as the Geth dropship entered the bay. The 3 forms that exit the vehicle were a surprise. One was about the size of a Terran outside of their armor, while the other 2 were a little taller than a Marine in their armor. The small one was thin, grey, and had a light bulb for a face. While the other 2 still had the light bulb, the design and color was different. The big ones were red and were not nearly as thin. As the 3 representatives exit their craft, the Terrans noticed the same thing, they didn't look like they were wearing a suit. It looked like those forms were their bodies. Finally the Geth stopped a respectable distance in front of the captain and bowed slightly.

"We are Geth. We greet you." The grey robot said.

Confused, Alphonso said "Greetings, but I thought that your species is the Geth. What should we address you as?"

"We are Geth. This is platform 73175283. We have no name." The platform

Surprisingly, it was the Adjutant that stopped the useless argument. "Sir, the Geth are a hive mind of programs that when combined, create a program that is the equivalent of an AI."

"Thank you Adjutant. Well then, platform 75283? Was that it? What do you want with the Terrans?"

"We wanted to find out what was on the other side of the Mass Relay. We want nothing to do with the Terrans. This was an unintentional meeting. Who is this Adjutant? We do not see another being in the direction that you were speaking to."

Alphonso smiled. These Geth appeared more curious and scientific than hostile. "Adjutant is the _Fenrir's_ mark XI AI. She basically runs all of the administration and really technical stuff. We are getting off topic. So you want nothing to do with the Terrans? We do have a few questions, and I am certain that you have your own, so could you answer some of ours and vice versa?"

"Acceptable. We anticipate the exchange of data." 73175283 said.

Over the next 3 hours, the Union learned of the Citadel Council, the Geth, the Quarians, Krogan and others. The Geth learned of the Union but was not allowed to know about Amon, the Xel'Naga and the Hybrid, in fear of something else like that happening. But the Geth soon perked up and started to rise.

"I apologise, but it appears like a group of Batarians have entered the Relay and are headed here, probably thinking that there may be good slaves here. Would you like our help in defending this attack?" As 73175283 stood, it received its answer.

"While I am certain that this ship can defeat the Batarian force, we will never turn down help."

So when the Batarians came through the Relay, they were in for a nasty surprise.

* * *

Bahrak

 _Hidden Hand_

30/05/12

-1300 Cycles

As he came out of the Mass Relay, the first thing he did was scoff at the ships that the primitives used. Then he grinned inwardly at the fact that there were indeed primitives. The only things that dissuaded an instant attack were the 2 Geth ships that were near the small spherical ship with stubby little thrusters and a massive satellite dish. There was a rather large blocky thing near them, but nothing that the primitives could have created. Colonised, perhaps, but not created. After a few seconds, he made his decision.

"Send all of our transports onto the planet and get as many slaves as we can on them. I wonder what they will be worth."

"Uh, sir? That big asteroid there, isn't an asteroid. It's a ship. And judging by the design, isn't the Geth's. I think that this new species is space faring and they have a dreadnought right here."

"Well then kill it and send our transports to the ground. We need those slaves!" Bahrak croaked out.

* * *

Dominion Ground Forces

Captain Bailey

-1400 Hours

Even though the attack was only mentioned minutes ago, the small colony already had 4 Bunkers, 2 Siege Tanks and a few Marine and Marauder squadrons. With missile turrets surrounding the base, the colony was a small fortress. Unfortunately the Batarians had no idea what they were about to walk into. When the ships landed on the planet of Hadje, they brought what would normally be enough to take care if such a small colony in the Citadel, but the Terrans would be different. First off, they had better armor and they had allies that everyone was afraid of. When the Batarians made it to the Bunkers range about 2 hours later, the Siege Tanks were set up and the Bunkers were full of Marines.

* * *

Captain Bahrak

-1500 Cycles

When the raiding party finally reached the colony, the first thing that he noticed were the buildings. They looked almost Turian in design, with more function than form in mind. He also scoffed at the small, squat buildings in the way.

"Send all of our forces up the ramp and tell them to destroy those buildings. We can kill the soldiers, save all the civilians. We need the slaves. This was quite a costly endeavor. We need to make this one count. And if it is a new species, let's make it one of ours."

As his forces charged up the ramp, the first thing that told him that he was dead, were the booms and then the screaming of artillery. _What the hell? Who the hell still uses artillery? They can't hit anything and they're so slow!_ But when the shots hit the ground, the 2 shells killed about half of his Vorcha. _Holy shit!_ Even as he shouted out to him men to get out of there, the small buildings erupted in gunfire. Everywhere he looked, Vorcha and Batarians were dropping like stones. Even the Krogan had a tough time getting out of the withering gunfire. When his forces on the ground finally got out of range, he could only hope that the battle in space was going better.

* * *

Hidden Hand

-1500 Cycles

Even though Kardon's fleet outnumbered the 2 Geth cruisers and the unknown by 2 cruisers and 2 frigates, the single dreadnought that was there absolutely annihilated his fleet. It's weaponry passed through his kinetic barriers like it wasn't there and destroyed a cruiser in a single volley. Even though he outnumbered them, he knew, they were screwed.

"Everyone, back to the Relay, now! We won't win this fight. And if these newcomers are as good on land as they are in space, Bahrak is already dead. We have to go. Now!"

As the Batarian fleet swung around to face the Relay, the sensors officer squeaked. When Kradon turned and glared at him, he glanced at the screen and was terrified at eat he saw. The buildup of energy coming from the unknown was more than anything he had ever seen, other than the Citadel. But when the energy started moving, he knew, anything it hit was dead. As he looked out the viewport, the bolt of energy blasted through his frigates, and the last 2 cruisers before dissipating. With his ship being the last one left, he managed to escape into the Relay, but when he did, the terrific amounts of force tore his ship apart. When it came out the other end, there was nothing except a shower of metal. The Citadel would not know what the Union had. Even though the Batarian fleet went missing, many assumed it was destroyed or taken over by a pirate gang. But the other Batarians knew better.

* * *

Dominion Ground Forces

Captain Bailey

As the Batarians charged up the ramp, the Terran forces slowly backed up. They couldn't hold the ramp, even with Siege Tank support, so when the Bunkers fell, the Marines pulled back and hid behind some Supply Depots. Taking the occasional peek around cover he saw the four eyed bastards take screaming civilians from their homes. Finally, the Dominion Forces couldn't hold it in any longer and charged. Combat shields were destroyed by the hail of gunfire, Batarians, Vorcha and Marines fell in droves, but the Batarian pirates released the captives and had to retreat. After the Batarians had left to regroup, Bailey tallied his losses. 17 Marines, 8 Marauders and 2 Bunkers had fallen in the attack. But compared to what the Swarm or the Protoss would have done, the Batarians did nothing. And, each Batarian seemed to have a shield, just like the Protoss, just the shields were weaker and the Siege Tank shots blew through them like they didn't even exist. Seriously, even Zerglings can take a hit! But the damage and the fact that the Geth said it was just a pirate gang made him wonder, what if they attacked us with more units. _Would we be able to hold?_

* * *

The _Fenrir_

Alphonso Fowler stared at the retreating ship. Even though he had expected to see weaker ships, fighting them was another story. He was used to Protoss shields and armor, and Zerg durability. These Batarians seemed… flimsy. As he watched, the Geth fired a burst of plasma at the ship's engines. When the blast hit, there was a brief flare and an explosion as the engines blew, venting even more if the blue stuff into space. As the ship entered the Mass Relay, the Lieutenant Major could tell that it was dead.

Turning to the Geth representative, he asked them "Why do you help us? Why did you not attack? A new species could be hostile."

"We did not because we are Geth, we do not attack without reason." 73175283 replied.

" Yeah, about that, what are you? Are you a biological species that allowed to become cyborgs, or a fully intelligent program?" Alphonso asked, partly in curiosity and partly due to the similarities between these Geth and the Protoss.

"We are Geth. We are what is considered illegal, an artificial intelligence, an AI." 73175283 answered although going slightly defensive. "Do you wish to terminate us?"

Alphonso snorted. '"Why would we? You warned us of an incoming attack, and helped us defend against it. We have no reason to kill or even harm you. Would you like to join the Union? We consist of the Protoss, Terrans and Zerg. Everyone on this ship is a Terran. I'm sure Adjutant would have given you data on us and the rest of the Union by now."

"Processing. The Union seems to be relatively open minded and forgiving. The alliance between 3 species that killed billions of each other is quite interesting. If only the Citadel could do the same. Your offer is being transmitted to the rest of the Consensus, please wait. The Consensus is divided. Some wish to join you, while others would prefer to remain solitary. Will you accept half the Geth?"

Sighing, Alphonso scratched his neck. "I'm sorry, but I'll have to bring that one to the brass. That question is above my pay grade. I'm just a Battlecruiser captain. There is no way that I can say anything definitely, but I am nearly certain that half of you can join, as long as the other half doesn't attack us." He smiled, maybe aliens weren't so bad.

* * *

Batarian/Geth Border

Unnamed Relay

03/06/12

When the metal shower came from the Relay into Batarian space, it was searched and the Batarians were amazed and terrified of the newcomers. The high ranking officials decided not to tell the Council and just chose to take the newcomers as a free slave supply.

So when the Batarian fleet went into the Relay, they were ready for anything a Turian fleet could throw at them. **(A/N: I know that I said Turian. This is** **because the Turians are the most powerful force that the Batarians know of.)** The fleet of 350 frigates, 231 cruisers, and 93 dreadnoughts, the Fleet commander was supremely confident of their abilities **.** They would take a supply of slaves that no one knew about and the Citadel could do nothing about it.

Hours earlier, unknowingly to the Batarians and the rest of the Citadel Council, half of the Geth fleet flew through the Relay and were accepted with open arms into the Union. When the remaining Geth saw what had happened, they too had joined the Union.

* * *

Koprulu Union Fleet

03/05/12

Relay 315

-2200 Cycles

As the Geth fleets exited the Mass Relay, they were greeted by the massive and welcoming curves of the _Spear of Adun,_ the blocky and unrefined edges of the Celestial-class Omega-Cruiser _Olympus_ and the personal *Leviathan of Kerrigan. Some of the Geth felt fear for the first time as they stared at the imposing ships of 3 new species that had allied together. As they faced the fleets, something the Consensus had never felt before happened. Something more than anything that the Consensus had met before. As the Protoss AI 'spoke' to the Consensus, the Geth were shocked that the Union used AIs that were better than the Consensus. While the Protoss AI communicated with the Geth, the _Spear of Adun_ sensors detected a fleet about to exit the Relay. When it was confirmed that it was not Geth, all hands went to battle stations.

* * *

Yay! The first chapter of my new fanfic. Please read and review. If you have any suggestions, than send me a PM and I'll incorporate anything that would be nice. And please, put reviews in the review section. PM me any messages that I would otherwise take. Thank you to all my readers!

-IAnswerToNoOne

 **OK, GAME TIME COMPARED TO REAL LIFE.** I will be making an in game second equal to a minute in real life. Alright Terran structures, Battlecruisers and stuff like that will take a bit longer with an in game second equaling 15 minutes. Still not long but much more balanced and realistic. Resources will now include metal as well as Supply, Minerals and Vespene gas.

*Zeratul's Void Seeker: OK not much info on this one, so I will be making it about 120 meters long. The only real comparison to make it with is Kerrigan's Leviathan and that thing doesn't have a length either, so yeah, 120 meters. Crew of 1.

*Carriers: Don't know the actual size but I'm just going to say 1400 meters. Remember though, Carriers are hollow to carry thousands Interceptors. They also have anti fighter capabilities which include 50 Photon Cannons and, for those that have played Warships, the arcade game, 125 Obelisks. Crew of 731.

*Tempests: 150 meters in diameter. They're basically circles anyway. 20 Obelisks. Crew of 9.

*Void Ray: 250 meters long. Crew of 5.

*Mothership: A Protoss Mothership is a literal small city. It actually houses a colony of Protoss so I found the average area of a small city, which is about 6-7 kilometers. I will just be using 6. Crew of current population. 500 Obelisks, 250 Photon Cannons.

*Spear of Adun: According to the Starcraft Wiki, the Spear is about 75 kilometers long. I was personally going to make it 65 kilometers, but, hey, it's the Protoss. I can't argue. 3000 Obelisks,1500 Photon Cannons. Crew of 6000.

*Leviathans: Again, not much information, but in the cover art for 'Star Battles', the Leviathan is obviously huge, so I will be making it 4 kilometers long, even if they are considered 'moon-sized'. And in the Heart of the Swarm trailer, that thing was much bigger than 4 kilometers, but just so the Zerg aren't overpowered, 4 kilometers. 16 Spine Crawlers, and Acidic Bile. No crew.

*Amon: The Xel'Naga that wanted to destroy the Koprulu Sector.

*Minotaur-class Battlecruiser: An 800 meter capital ship of the Terran forces. Crew of 400. 81 double Air To Air (ATA) batteries, 51 double Air To Surface (ATS) batteries and one Yamato cannon.

*Gorgon-class Battlecruiser: There isn't much on them so I'll be making them 1600 meters long with a single Yamato cannon that can destroy a Carrier in one shot. 173 triple ATA batteries, 135 ATS triple batteries. Crew of 1000.

*Loki-class super-Battlecruiser: A 2400 meter long behemoth of a ship. It has 2 Yamato cannons that fire at the same rate as a normal one. 344 quad ATA batteries, 279 quad ATS batteries. Crew of 1600.

*Celestial-class Omega-Cruiser: Something I just came up with. It is basically a fleet within itself. At 4000 meters, it has 842 quad ATA batteries, 698 ATS batteries and **4** Yamato cannons! You are not supposed to beat this ship. Sadly, there is only one in existence and probably will be for quite some time. Classified Level 10. Crew of 3600.


	2. Chapter 2

This is the second installation of The Eternal Cycle. And yup, I've got a problem with Trump. And, as one of my favourite quotes from any movie, 'Well, shit. There goes the planet!' (Brownie points to whoever PM's me first on which movie it is!)

 **PLEASE PUT REVIEWS THAT ARE MORE DETAILED THAN 'GOOD CHAPTER' PLEASE?** Seriously, some of them are outright weird on my other fanfic.

Pointypointy: I doubt I can write a romance, but I might as well try! Honestly, I'm in high school, not the best time to write as romance novel.

 _Italic = Thoughts_

{ } = Protoss speech

[ ] = Zerg hive mind speech

( ) = Psionic speech

Again, I own nothing.

* * *

The Hadje System

03/06/12

-0400 Hours

Batarian Fleet

Even though the unknown fleet was massively outnumbered at 1600 to 4, the massive _75_ kilometer ship looked like it could destroy anything that the Hegemony owned. That one looked like more than a match for the entire fleet alone. And, there were 3 different species, plus the Geth, if the ship designs were anything to go by. Even if the attacking force was one that was more than a match for any other Citadel colony, or homeworld for that matter, the new specie, or species for that matter looked like it was too much for them to handle. Even so, they only had 4 ships, compared to the 1600 of the Batarians. As Bahrak's father looked onwards, he grinned. _Their worlds will fall for the death of my son._

* * *

The Spear of Adun

Hierarch Artanis

0400 Hours

{ _Karax! Have we discovered whether or not these new aliens are hostile?}_ As Karax, the master Phasesmith of the Protoss worked frantically, Artanis watched the fleet slowly posture into a more offensive formation.

{ _Hierarch! The new aliens are hostile! They plan on attacking Hadje and taking as many prisoners and slaves as possible. According to the Geth, these aliens are known as Batarians, notorious for taking slaves and being criminals. Hierarch, if they do reach the surface, we will need more warriors. Each slaver ship seems to have multiple dropships that will drop hundreds of thousands, if not more on the settlement!}_ Even as Karax spoke, the first mass accelerator rounds prepared to fly forth from the Batarians.

{ _Ready yourselves, Templar! The enemy is upon us! Karax, have you finished your scans?}_

 _{Yes Hierarch. They seem to have the same particles that the Terrans had found in that device! Wait, Hierarch, we are receiving a message from the Terrans. They seem to know that we may be outmatched due to their massive numbers and have called upon the Dominion fleet to help. They are requesting assistance from the Golden Armada as well.}_ Karax was both ecstatic and terrified. He had wanted to see what the newly upgraded Protoss vessels could do with the technology of the Spear of Adun, but also wanted to avoid a battle that could leave thousands of his brethren dead _._

Artanis considered. { _Do it. We may yet need to fight them on the ground. High Executor Selendis! Have the Spear engage their forces, call in the Wrath as well. We will not let them get away with slavery and attacking us! For the Union!}_

* * *

The Olympus

Emperor Valerian Mengsk

"Jim, Matt, do you know what this is?" Valerian, still a novice in the military asked, hoping his more militaristic counterparts would have an idea.

"I don't know Junior, looks like they want somethin' from us. Wait, ain't these the Batarian folks the Geth told us about? Well, shit… I think they're after our folks. They're takin' slaves! Tosh, can you sense them?" Raynor, as experienced as he was, was still afraid of the massive swell of ships that was bearing down upon them, about to open fire.

"I feel them brotha'. They want to land, and to take some of our brotha's and sista's down there. We'll need help. We can't hold this with the 4 ships here, even with the _Spear._ They can go around." Gabriel Tosh, the Raiders best Spectre said.

"I know that Tosh." He stared at the screen. "Alright. Matt, deploy all available units onto the planet and get them ready for a siege. I'll go with 'em. Call in the Dominion fleet and I just asked Artanis to send in the Golden Armada."

As the first shots came forth, he instantly switched from cautious to angry. _You are not landing on this planet you bastards!_

Especially in the Raiders, Terran military is very informal. So when the a shots were fired, shields went up, ATA laser batteries started firing and everyone who wasn't there already went to battle stations without being ordered to do so. As a final touch, the double Yamato cannons started to charge up.

"Sir, shields are down by 20 percent! Yamatos at 82 percent charge. The Leviathan is taking heavy damage but definitely not going to die out on us. The _Spear_ is absolutely fine. Their shields barely dropped 10 percent, and that's with them firing most of their shots at it."

"Alright. Fire the Yamatos in the thickest cluster of enemy ships. Spray our batteries in that area." As Matt Horner gave out his orders, the first laser shots connected with the Batarian fleet. As they all watched, the batteries flew right through what appeared to be their shields and impacted with the ships. Ships were torn apart by the sheer amount of firepower. Each shot did significant damage, but when 344 quad batteries hit, that ship was dead.

Even so, the thousands of mass accelerators slowly nibbled away at the _Olympus_ ' shields. Eventually, they would get through.

"Rory, can we do a short warp jump?" Matt, who was getting a little desperate asked. Some of the Batarian ships simply slipped around the flanks of the 4 ships. The Geth vessel was being surrounded by its newfound allies. The Leviathan was tearing the opposing ships apart with the massively oversized Spine Crawlers.

"Yeah, I think she can, Matt. I mean she ain't the same as the _Hyperion_ , not by a long shot, but I think she can. Don't do too many though, I don't think she can take much more. Her shields are almost dead from the barrage, and the reactor is trying to keep up."

Matt considered it. On one hand, he might tear the ship apart, but on the other, he might save thousands of lives.

"Do it. Jump to...these coordinates once you have them in."

A multitude of explosions rocked the Olympus for the briefest of moments as the shrapnel from almost 150 ships blowing up almost simultaneously slammed into the shields. Matt grinned. _Oh do I love my Yamatos._

* * *

The _Spear of Adun_

 _{Hierarch, there are 150 ships headed for the surface. What are your orders?}_

 _{Send our Phoenix's and Scouts after them. They must not reach the surface. If they do, who knows what the ground forces may do.}_

* * *

Hadje Ground Forces

Marshall Jim Raynor

"Alright boys, the Phoenix squadrons just told me that some of the ships are gonna get through. Let's give them some Terran hospitality!"

"Let's do this!"

"Go, go, go!"

As the Batarian dropships landed with about 40% casualties, the Terrans set up even more fortifications. Sadly, they were only an hour and a half away by foot, so the attack was pretty close. Thankfully however, the Dominion Ground Forces had a few Spectres and Ghosts. Even the Batarians, who have had hundreds of years worth of practice at raiding other colonies, this was completely different. You can't hit what you can't see.

* * *

Nova Terra

At first, Nova had argued with her orders. Her job was to protect the Emperor, not save a new colony! Eventually however, she listened and boy was she glad to have gone.

 _These Batarians are so bad! They move like a ton of bricks, easy to kill, always turn to their senior commander and best of all, they all line up!_

She grinned as she got yet another 6 Batarian kill with a single bullet, bringing her kill count to 73.

 _This is easily the easiest mission I've ever been on!_

By the time the Commander reacted, nearly a twentieth of his forces were killed by the cloaked killers.

* * *

Ghamye Coffadah

Ghamye was freaking out.

 _What is killing us? Why do we keep losing men? Whatever it is, we need to stop it._

As he watched the screen depicting his forces, another 6 of his men fell in less than a second.

"Alright, we're going. We can't take the casualties that we have taken for much longer. Send all of the Vorcha, Krogan and the other hired guns that we have in. We need to see what they have before we go out ourselves."

As the communications officer sent out the orders, another 20 men died. Ghamye sighed.

"Alright, everyone, we need to go now or those snipers are going to pick us apart. We will take what my son couldn't. We will take over this planet, and it's people. All *Special Intervention Units (SIU's) are to go and try to take out the snipers. Have our tanks push up the fronts and take out their infantry. As for our artillery, let's keep you in reserve, we might need an ace in the hole." Ghamye smiled as his men cheered. _Well son, we may yet avenge you._

* * *

Koprulu Union Ground Forces

Jim Raynor

"Alright, I want Siege Tanks here, here and here. Keep our Banshees on the ground about 3 klicks out. I want air dominance as soon as we can, so Vikings, Wraiths and hell, even some Ravens up there. 2 Ravens per squadron. I know Artanis, he'll be setting up Photon Cannons here and here, so send a couple Widow Mines over there."

He tapped and pointed to different points on the holotable as he spoke.

"Who the hell put our Marines and Reapers out there? No, keep 'em inside the wall. I thinks that's the best we can do." He sighed. Couldn't there just be a break from all the fighting in the Sector? First the Swarm, then killing Mengsk, then finally, a freakin' god has to show up and try to kill them all. What's happening is happening. Suddenly, he thought of the Olympus. How was the battle in space going? He opened up a channel to the Olympus.

"Matt, how's it going up there?"

* * *

Matthew Horner

Head Admiral

"Not well Jim. We're taking a pounding. We need those reinforcements, now! The Spear is destroying most them, but we might sti-" Matt stumbled as a round finally hit the ship's hull. "Dammit! Put our reactor's output at 90%! Priority to shields, not weapons. 60% shields, 30 to weapons and 10 to life support. Jim, you need anything? Jim?" When he looked back down, he realised that his friend had cut the transmission. Multitasking in a battle was always a bad thing.

"All hands brace for our Yamatos! Fire on my mark." After a pregnant pause, Matt grinned.

"Fire."

The Yamato blasts traveled through the void at 80% the speed of light. The Batarians never had a chance to dodge. When the boiling plasma connected with a Batarian ship, the power overwhelmed the ship's reactor, detonated the core, and jumped like lightning throughout the Batarian fleet. (If anyone has seen Ender's Game, the scene where the Little Doctor hit the swarming fighters would be a good visual. For those who haven't, search up 'Ender's Game, final battle' on YouTube.) The exploding ships damaged some of the ones around it with shrapnel and outright destroyed others. All this happened within a 3 second period.

Once the flash of the explosions ceased, the Sensors officer chuckled.

"Sir, they're retreating, but only about a fifth of the original 1600 survived. Oh, late for the party, I see. Sir, the Protoss reinforcements are... Holy shit. When Artanis calls for help, does he ever. You'll see…"

As they watched, a massive amount of warp jump exits opened up. There were Carriers, Tempests, Void Rays and even a Mothership. But that wasn't it. Out of the largest exit, came another Arkship.

The massive 75 kilometer vessel snapped into view as the jump exit closed behind it. On the planet, Jim called Artanis.

"Artanis! I thought you said that there weren't any other Arkships! I… seriously, I can see the ship from the ground!"

{ _Do not worry, Friend Raynor, this ship is of the Firstborn. We have made another, the Union's Wrath. It is completely different. This ship will be able to cloak and, we are willing to have both Terrans and Zerg operate on the Wrath. It will be the most powerful warship ever created by the Union as it is a warship. It isn't designed to carry a civilization this time. It will also be the flagship to the Union Fleet once we meet the so-called Citadel Council, if you agree_ } Artanis knew it was rhetorical, but he still needed to do so out of courtesy.

For a good minute, the comms were silent. Then Raynor had to smile.

"Artanis, I hope you know that that was completely rhetorical. I'm in! And I'm sure that Valerian will be once he snaps out of his stupor... AS SOON AS HE SNAPS OUT OF HIS STUPOR…"

Valerian shook his head. "I… Yes. Yes, I will definitely accept the help of the Firstborn. Thank you, Artanis."

Even Kerrigan, Stukov and Zagara were stunned. The Union had done allied movements before of course, but this was on a whole new level. An Arkship for the Union? That was the best thing anyone could ask for. Even if the original Arkship design was not an intentional warship, it could still destroy quite a few ships without much effort. And if this one was an intentional warship…that could cloak...

"Thank you Artanis, we will join you in this endeavour."

"Well then, shall we all meet on the _Wrath_?" Valerian asked, anxious to see the interior of the Union's newest toy.

{ _If you wish._ } Artanis said with a vocal grin.

* * *

Jim Raynor

Hadje

03/06/12

1500 Hours

"Alright, we need to keep together. Send 3 Marine squadrons over and hold the streets between Segrat and Thikare. If we hold that, then the Protoss can finish warping in their men. We need their numbers to help us."

Raynor was in a dilemma. He wanted to both attack the Batarians but he also had to defend the base colony.

Eventually, he decided. "Get all of our Marines, Firebats and Marauders into the Medivacs and send them into the Batarian camp. Try to take as few casualties as possible and get out as soon as it is getting bad. Keep all of our Tanks and Mech units back. We need to defend. I think that that'll help. Are the Pylons up yet?"

"Yes sir! The warp in might take a minute though."

"Right. Anyway, how long before the Medivacs arrive?"

"10 seconds sir."

"Watch them. Tell them to get out as fast as they can once it gets dicey."

"Of course sir. Medivacs 1 through 7, do you read?"

* * *

Lieutenant Cortez

"I read you Control. Reaching target now."

In the back, the Marines and Marauders shifted restlessly. The Marines were checking their Gauss Rifles while the Marauders and Firebats ran system checks on their suits.

When the Medivacs reached the landing zone, there was very little actually left in the camp. The Firebats gleefully ran forwards and burnt all of the small canvas tents down. The few Vorcha that didn't leave with the main force were cleaned up by the Marines while the Marauders destroyed all of the tech that the Batarians had with their Punisher grenades.

In less that 20 minutes the Batarian base was either burning, or was already burnt to ash. After the one Batarian that survived told the captain what had happened to the base, the Batarian force surrendered.

* * *

 _The Union's Wrath_

Union Chambers

03/06/12

2300 Hours

As the leaders and direct subordinates filed into the Chambers, the Geth representative walked in as well. (Protoss: Artanis, Karax, Fenix, Vorazun, Alarak, Selendis) (Zerg: Kerrigan, Zagara, Alexei Stukov, Dehaka, Abathur) (Terrans: Raynor, Matt Horner, Valerian) It didn't matter that species it was, they were all surprised when a dark grey misty smoke filled the centre of the room.

"Do you trust me? I will not mislead you." As the smoke cleared, a figure that the Koprulu citizens all recognised appeared.

{ _Zeratul! What are you doing here, my old friend?_ } Artanis asked.

{ _I have found another Prophecy. I would like your help._ } Zeratul sighed while looking down.

Raynor frowned. "Alright, you just better not send us to Char. When that happened, we lost tens of thousands of men. And, then that lead to the Amon war. In that one, we lost millions of men."

{ _I realise, but this could be worse than Amon. If what I found is true, then this slaughter has been going on for millennia._ } Zeratul said grimly.

"Well, that doesn't sound ominous at all." Valerian said. "Now, what is it?"

{ _According to the Prophecy, there is an enemy that has existed for millions of years. The plinth that I had found shows a force of ships that could destroy all others that reside within the galaxy in mere years. According to the text, they called themselves the Inusannon, and they were alive 127,000 years ago. They were destroyed by the 'Death Bringers'. They could destroy ships in a single volley and nothing could take them down. Then, on Zerus, I found the information that lead me to believe that the 'Death Bringers' were here for millions of years before Inusannon. They take the lives of all sentient species and turn them into puppets. The Inusannon were the most advanced species in their 'Cycle'. I believe that that is their equivalent of a year. The Inusannon were destroyed completely. No survivors. 50,000 years later, the Protheans appear and get wiped out, according to the Geth. I think that the 'Death Bringers' will be coming soon. And we must be prepared for it._ }

{ _Are you suggesting then, that we create as powerful a fleet as we can before these 'Death Bringers' appear?_ } Matriarch Vorazun, of the Nerazim asked.

{ _There is too little for me. We know next to nothing. And these 'Prophecies' hold little value._ } Highlord Alarak, of the Tal'Darim said rather arrogantly.

"I trust Zeratul. The last Prophecy he told us came true and, saved us from our destruction, even if we lost thousands, and in the Zerg's case, millions."

"I agree with Jim. This is too important for us to ignore. If he is right, then we will need everything that we have to stop them." Kerrigan said after a second long psionic talk with her subordinates.

{ _Have we decided then? If so, shall we move onto the topic of the Geth? You have already been sworn into the Union, but I would like to know, would you like to be a client race?_ } Artanis, as Hierarch, asked the Geth representative, who called itself 792516.

"Query recognised. The Consensus would like to join the Protoss in hopes of becoming true AI's. We will not attack the Union as a result of the possible upgrades."

"Well that's one thing taken care of. Is there anything else? No? Well then, what should we do about the Batarians? They sent an all out invasion on one of our colonies. What should we do about that? I realise that casualties were exceptionally light, but they still attempted to destroy us." Valerian said.

{ _I suggest an attack that will cripple them. Leave them barely able to defend themselves, let alone attack others._ } Alarak declared.

{ _I agree with Highlord Alarak, we must not let such a historic moment like meeting the Geth become the beginning of a war. We should end this war before it starts._ } This was Selendis, who Vorazun heartily agreed to.

"Alright now, we might be going a little fast. Who said we're going to war? I think that 1 Arkships would scare the shit out of anyone, especially if the largest vessel that they know of is 3 kilometers long. I hope that they'll see them and run for the hills." Matt said, though without much confidence.

{ _Zeratul, will you join us in this Chamber?_ } Vorazun asked.

The question caught the centuries old Dark Prelate unawares. After a little bit of consideration, he hesitantly answered her.

{ _While I believe that I could be beneficial to the Union, I think that I should remain alone for the time being. I am still looking for other fragments of yet another prophecy._ }

"Alright, what are we going to attack the Batarians with? Should we just annihilate their fleets and prove to the Citadel that they are indeed slavers?" Even though she was a Zerg, she still had the Terran idealism that slavery was abhorrent and that it is a terrible practice.

{ _I will devote a third of the Tal'Darim fleet to destroy these bastards! They will feel the power of the Tal'Darim!_ } Alarak declared.

"I will send half of the Dominion fleet, including this ship." Valerian grinned, he knew what Artanis would send.

"The Swarm will send 400 Leviathans to aid you." Kerrigan said after a bit.

{ _And the Dae'Laam will send the The Union's Wrath as well as the Spear of Adun. They will fall._ } Artanis said with a slight growl. There were over 3 million Protoss inhabitants, and 4 million Terrans on Hadje, had the Batarians taken one, then there was going to be hell to pay.

The leaders of the Union sighed. There was another war to be fought.

* * *

Hadje

Koprulu Union Fleet

Matt Horner

03/08/12

1400 Hours

When the repurposed Geth communications drone went through the Relay, the Union held its collective breath. The drone held a message containing the demands and border of Union space. The demands included 1 kilometer of metal and 50 kilograms of Element Zero, as the Geth called it. When the Geth had supplied the two eager scientists and engineer, they had jumped on the chance and have been in the lab for almost 14 hours, working non-stop. It was a good thing that all of the experiments were conducted in space, because some of the experiments ended with the test subject flattened and shrunk and became weightless until it touched something. Once it did, the mass returned into something that is much more dense.

* * *

03/08/12

Kar'Shan

Batarian Government

The Batarian government is a finicky thing. There were 6 Batarians that ran the Hegemony, but no one knew who they were. They could have been addicts found on the streets or the highest-ranking members of their military and diplomatic envoys.

"What do you mean, the raid was unsuccessful? That was enough to take over the Citadel! We sent over 1600 ships and spent 800,000,000 credits to send that raid out! We absolutely need to get more labour if that attack failed!"

"Perhaps we should send the entire Fleet to get them. The entire Fleet will not lose."

"Perhaps…"

"My lords! A Geth drone entered our space and began to broadcast a message! I will put it onto your Omni-tools.

Once the Shadow Council activated their Omni-tools, the slave sent them the message.

"This is the Tribunal of the Union. We will not condone another attack on us or our allies. As a result of the damages, we demand a 1 kilometer by 300 meters, by 3 meters thick piece of metal, as well as 50 kilograms of Element Zero. If these terms are not met, we will attack Batarian space, destroying your fleets and sending all of your population into your most populated colonies. Any ships entering our space will be destroyed with extreme prejudice. You have one week."

As the message ended, the Shadow Council shook with rage.

"They dare make demands of us? We will respond in kind! Tell the fleet to destroy the drone. Ready the fleets, we will teach them why even the Citadel does not interfere with the Hegemony!"

Done. Whew! Oh, and whoever PM's me second on this will decide who and what Shepard will be. Pick a number between 1 and 6. One will be male Shepard as a Ghost, another as a Spectre, and another as a Council SPECTRE. The other 3 will be female Shepard. So, send me a PM and I'll incorporate anything that would be interesting and viable.


	3. Chapter 3

Third part. I just realised that I forgot to tell you when the entire thing started. First off, the Systems Alliance does not exist. Humanity died when the Cold War actually happened and Earth is even worse than Tuchanka. Humanity never achieved spaceflight and is almost extinct. This story takes place before ME 1 and after Legacy of the Void. Tosh survives because he didn't call to gloat and was on his game when Nova showed up. They both left with injuries and now, since the Dominion and Raiders are together, they will work together, albeit reluctantly and with an unhealthy rivalry.

Gotta hand it to Sieben Nightwing to get the quote from Spaceballs in less than 5 minutes after I released the new chapter! Holy crap! That was really fast. I will always be amazed at that.

Congratulations to Yoshiki-909 for getting second on the PM/Review contest. In all honesty though, I liked RedRat8's idea, where Shepard would have been male, and an incredibly strong Ghost that was trained under Nova. He might not have been the most sane person, being trained under Nova, but he'll do the job. However, since I told you guys that the second person would win, Shepard will be a very powerful female Ghost with the ability to Cloak and use Psionic Lash. She is an amazing sniper and is a demolition specialist, with EMPs and other explosives. She was trained under Nova though and the merciless killer part is definitely still in there, simply subdued until the time is right. Apparently, there is a meter as to how strong a psionic is. Kerrigan was a 10 before becoming the Queen of Blades while I am guessing Nova was a 9 or 10 while Tosh would be the same. In this case, Shepard will be an 8.

zealous specter: Honestly, I don't know why the Geth use chairs. I'm just putting it that way because in ME 3, in the final battle, the Geth was sitting in a chair. And about the Geth being secretive and reclusive, in my opinion, they are afraid of organics because they/we have attempted to dismantle them every time we could. As for the part where they have no ranks, I will now change it so that they have no ranks other than ambassadors and their form's special capabilities (i.e. Troopers, Colossus, etc.) Thanks for the Review!

PyroSolcracIII(3): Sorry for getting your name wrong, the font doesn't allow it. The thing is though, I want to know your opinions, so I could change the story from what I planned to something completely different, depending on what you guys/girls want.

Capt. Schroller: Alright, I know that CMC armor was made to survive small arms fire in the SC universe, but the people in the ME universe use 'metal shards' as ammo that is moving much faster than a SC Impaler spike. So if a ME shot gets lucky and hits a joint, where the armor is almost non-existent, then the Marine is a goner. And, that much speed, with such small surface area, it might just penetrate the armor.

And thank you Akshka for staying with me since my first chapter of my first fanfic, Of The Future And Past.

 _Italic = Thoughts_

{ } = Protoss speech

[ ] = Zerg hive mind speech

( ) = Psionic speech

Again, I own nothing.

* * *

*Batarian Fleet

The Shadow Council

03/10/12

0300 Cycles

"Today, we will be their Doomsday. Today we will uphold our heritage. Today we fight, for our rights, and our lives!"

The crowd roared with approval as the Council finished their speech. The Fleet was called to attack the new species that the Citadel Council still had no idea of. While the Council species were wondering what happened to the lack of Raids by mercenaries, none were complaining and even fewer cared. Many theories were running out saying that the Batarians had attacked the Geth and lost their entire Fleet, which would be surprisingly close. In reality, the Batarians simply ordered their entire Fleet to mobilise at Relay 315 A and hired most of the mercenaries in the area. There were simply no people to perform Raids.

When the whole Hegemony Fleet was postured outside of the Relay, the High Admiral of the Hegemony, Edophi Fabmakan, watched his ships. He was not promoted to this position by experience, hell even the gunners on the lowliest ships had more real war experience than he. He basically just said 'Go out there and fight. Your Captains get to do whatever they want.'

When the fleet of 83,000 flew through the Relay, there was no telling what was going to happen.

* * *

Relay 315 B

Union Fleet

03/10/12

01400 Hours

As soon as the second Batarian fleet was defeated, the Union reacted immediately. The Spear of Adun, the Union's Wrath, the Olympus, an eighth of the Dominion Fleet, most of the Geth fleet, an eighth of the Tal'Darim fleet and about a hundred Leviathans were in the system. They were all prepared for the Batarian attack that was sure to come. As soon as the Geth drone was destroyed, the Union had reacted. They knew that the Relay could get them out of the Sector, and let others in. They took no chances and put up anti-ship batteries everywhere. Drakken Laser Cannons were constructed all over the planet and Zerg Spore cannons were grown all around the Relay on asteroids that were dragged next to it.

Executor Selendis, *L-Master Sookgoong and Admiral Matt Horner commanded the combined Union fleet. There were about 400 ships for the Dominion, mostly Gorgon-class Battlecruisers, a couple Kel-Morian Frigates, 3000 Geth ships, 300 Tal'Darim Void Rays and Carriers, and 2 Arkships. The rest of the original defense fleet was still on it's way. The rest of the Terran ships were about an hour away, while the rest of the Tal'Darim ships would arrive about half an hour afterwards. While the Union was expecting another attack from the Batarians, they had not expected one to come so quickly.

"Batarian assault ships incoming sir!" was the first notification of anything wrong. The buoy that the Geth put at the Relay had flared and disappeared as the Batarian ships destroyed it.

"Already? Send this message to the fleets! All hands to battlestations! We are in for a fight! Warm up the Laser Cannons! Bring Yamato readiness to 50%. All pilots to their fighters. Launch as soon as you are ready. May we all live through this day."

Matt paused as he watched thousands of Interceptors boil out of their Carriers and take defensive positions around the Relay. As Vikings blasted through the void, Wraiths and Banshees modified to fly in space. (Their twin rotors were replaced with controlled Wraith jets.) Even then, those hundreds of thousands were nothing compared to the million Mutalisks and Corruptors that the Zerg brought.

As the thousands upon thousands of Batarians ships exit the Relay, the Union gave them one chance to surrender.

{ _This is the Executor Selendis. If you have come to surrender then you will be given that chance. If not, prepare your men and ships for battle._ }

As soon as she finished speaking, the Batarian, identified as Edophi Fabmakan, quickly cut the communication.

"Well, I guess that's a no. Only fire if they do so first." Matt said.

Before he even finished the words, the first mass accelerator rounds flew forth and impacted with the Union Fleet. Matt closed his eyes. Here was another war, another battle.

"Fire. Attack with all fighters. Cloak our Wraiths and Banshees. Send them on bombing runs. Have the Vikings stay as the main anti-fighter force. Ask the Protoss to stay next to us. The Leviathans can take more damage than anything, other than the 2 Arkships. Have the Wrath stay in the battle for as long as possible. She can take the most out for the least damage."

As the Battlecruisers slowly engaged the Batarian capital ships, hundreds of Yamatos fired. The flash alone gave some an epileptic seizure. The Batarians especially were hit hard. They have fairly good eyesight, considering that they have 4 eyes, why not? With half the Batarian battlegroup destroyed, and the rest blinded, the weakened fleet were easy pickings for the Union. The Batarians still did their share of damage as well though. 180 Battlecruisers were destroyed or damaged almost beyond repair, and quite a few Protoss vessels took some serious damage. The Batarians even managed to cut the head off of 2 Leviathans, quite literally. They fired all their rounds at the 'neck' of the creatures and cut the head off. The ones that took the most damage though were the Geth. They had ships that were better than the Batarian's, but not by that much. The mass accelerator rounds slammed into their shields and through. In the time the Batarians had before the Yamatos hit, the shots that were fired (A/N: That was unintentional. I didn't actually mean "OHHH! SHOTS FIRED!") easily destroyed 200 Geth vessels. As the thousands of destroyed ships drifted through the void, both Union and Hegemony the Relay flared as Edophi Fabmakan made his humiliating escape. Soon after, the 18,000 ships that was left of the Batarian fleet scrambled back towards the Relay to flee from the new bear they had poked.

Matt sighed as he looked at the damage report 3 hours later on a datapad. The battle was an amazing victory for the Union, but he wasn't sure whether or not it was worth the skirmish. The _Banshee_ , _Thunderhead_ , _Garland_ , _Rogue_ , they were all gone. He bowed his head. The _Intimidator_ , one of the newest and most powerful Gorgon-classes in the Dominion fleet was alive and kicking, but Captain Sebastian Vakir was gone. A lucky shot hit the bridge, killing the entire bridge crew, and traveled through a third of the ship. He was very unlucky and he was the first thing to be hit by the missile.

Matt stared at the half empty bottle in his left hand. It was one of the most expensive and strongest ones in the Dominion. And it was his third bottle. Valerian (or was is Jim?) gave him 4 bottles to celebrate the end of the Koprulu War. Sebastian was one of his closest friends. He stuck with him when they served the Dominion, and joined him when he deserted. He fought hard while he was a Raider, and now, just because of another alien species, he's dead. Drunkenly, Matt slammed his fist onto the table.

"Damn, what happened to you? What're you doing?"

Matt turned around slowly. Jim stood there, out of his armour, with his arms crossed.

"What do you think? I'm gettin' drunk off my ass. We lost a lot of friends today. Sebastian, he was almost as close to me as you are. We did everything together. We even deserted the Dominion to join the Raiders together. We…were so close."

Jim sighed. Matt had put up with him drinking foor years, he sure as hell wasn't going to berate him for this once.

"I know that it's hard, but at this point, for better or worse, it's almost expected. In a battle, you lose someone you know. And I realise what Sebastian meant to you, to all of us, but we need you." Raynor said as he sat heavily onto the chair. "And, we're going to have to talk to the Council folks that the Geth keep talking 'bout."

Even drunk off his ass, Matt was still pretty sharp. "I know. Wish it wouldn't happen though. How much do you want to bet that we're going to end up in a war with them as well?"

Jim laughed, but it was a dry sound, without any humour. "Considering our luck, no takers from any of us!"

If the Union went into a war because of a species' 'cultural heritage' of taking slaves, then so be it. But if it was because those bastards lied and told the Citadel that they were the aggressors, then they would kill them all without mercy.

* * *

Batarian Government

03/12/12

0000 Cycles

The officials stared at the screen in absolute horror and shock. They had just seen the entire Batarian fleet slammed aside as though they were but fleas.

One of them swallowed nervously. "Perhaps we should have attempted a diplomatic meeting first, before attacking."

"This is your fault! You ordered the attack in the first place! And now, the Hegemony has lost most of it's fleet, billions of dollars in ships, millions of men, and over 80% of our income! We will not survive if they launch a counterattack. They could defeat us with those 2 big gold ones alone at this point!"

They all shook their heads. They had all seen the big ones fire blue streams that travelled through kinetic barriers like they didn't exist and travelled through several ships. One beam travelled through 9 ships and then went through the rest of the formation without connecting with anything else but still proved that it could hit more. Shuddering, one of them proposed something that scared the lot of them.

"Should we ask the Council for help?"

All small talk stopped. The air grew still as they thought about it. On one hand, they could have more resources, but on the other, show the Citadel another species and lose their free labor.

With little hesitation, the Government agreed that they needed the Citadel's help. Within a minute a slave had brought the Government a *QEC and started a communication with them.

"Councilors Sparatus, Tevos and Valern. We would like your assistance in meeting a new species. Perhaps several that have allied with each other, if their ship designs and weapons are any indication. We have discovered an active Relay previously unknown to the Citadel. When we sent ships through to find whoever activated it, the ships were destroyed mercilessly. From what we could gather, they are a violent species that attacks without mercy, and kills thoughtlessly. When we sent a fleet to as a counterattack for the men and women we lost, they killed us yet again. Even the whole Hegemony Fleet was defeated. Would you aid us in this time of need?"

As the Councillors debated within themselves, the Hegemony leaders shared an internal grin. He had not lied, but also hadn't told the whole truth either. It was perfect for this situation. The Council turned around

"We will aid you. We will send half of the Asari fleets, a third of the Salarian, and a quarter of the Turian. That should be more than enough to stop anything." Tevos said.

The Batarians cringed. "Well Councillors, it looks like they allied with the Geth as well."

All was silent for a few moments. Then all hell broke loose. The Councillors all started talking over each other, the guards took ready positions, the media crews started screaming and throughout it all, the Batarians simply watched. Now, everyone in Citadel space knew that the Geth had found allies, and those allies were willing to kill others.

"Silence!"

The one word shut everyone up.

Tevos sighed. There was nothing to be done about the public knowing now.

"As you have just heard, the Geth have found a new possible ally and they are willing to kill, as the Batarians have just shown us. We will not let such a threat exist within the Citadel. They are most likely similar to the Krogan, violent and uncontrollable. Ready our fleets, prepare our soldiers. We will fight for the rights of the Citadel!" Sparatus yelled.

The cheer from the many were actually able to be heard from within the soundproofed room of the Council.

Over the next few days, the allied Citadel fleets converged onto Relay 315. There was one mishap though, and that was when the Union's Wrath appeared in front of the Citadel.

* * *

Union's Wrath

03/15/12

1200 Hours

Artanis, Valerian and Kerrigan all stood on the bridge of the Wrath as they sped through warp-space towards the Citadel. They had all agreed that they must stop any possible counterattack from the Council before it happened, and the easiest way to do so, was to make a show of strength, as Selendis had suggested a week earlier. The Wrath would appear from warp-space and threaten the Citadel Council into leaving them alone. The Union had had enough of war and battle, even if the Zerg would never admit it. If they were dragged into another war because of Citadel, there was going to be hell to pay.

Hierarch Artanis watched as the ship exited warp-space. The Citadel looked almost flimsy compared to the Wrath. Even Kerrigan smiled as she looked at the station and read their reactions psionically. Everyone was shocked when they saw the massive thing that appeared near the Citadel. There were some Asari that believed that the Wrath was the Goddess' ship while the Hanar believed it was Prothean. Most Turians and Salarians thought it was a project that their governments had started, kept secret and unfurled it in this time of war. She smiled at their naivety. _Oh, they don't know what they're in for._

Artanis turned to Karax, who was, once again working furiously at his console. { _Karax, have you cracked their communications yet?_ }

{ _I am trying Hierarch, this one is significantly better defended to cyber attacks than the Batarian one. And, there, we are in Hierarch. We are prepared to broadcast whenever you are ready._ }

Valerian slowly nodded. "We are ready, Phasesmith. Would you open communications to their Councillors? I believe we have much to talk about."

* * *

The Citadel Council Room

03/15/12

1227 Cycles

The Councillors were shellshocked when they saw the massive ship. And when Valern and Sparatus glared accusingly at each other simultaneously, they knew, this was the species that the Batarians had encountered. And if they could do that…

Tevos stared at the massive ship hanging in space not 30000 kilometers away from the Citadel. _By the Goddess, how big is that thing? And how did they get here? They didn't come through the Relay, they would have been spotted, especially in a ship that large. Which means that they don't use Eezo!_ Tevos' eyes widened at this revelation. _But, that's impossible! Everything needs Eezo, even our Omni-tools! And if they don't need it, then they wouldn't have anything to benefit from us, so they might not join!_ Even if the Council was going to war, they would still need a diplomatic solution in the end. With this Tevos smiled, albeit a grim one.

With a slight crackle, the QEC in the room started and began to resolve into a stable communication. The face, or the faces rather, that the Council saw were some of the strangest they had ever seen. There was a grey skinned... _thing_ , without a mouth and had eyes that were more wisps of energy outside their sockets.

When Tevos finally turned from the grey one, she did a double take and stumbled back in shock. The next one was purple and looked _exactly like an Asari_! It had the same smooth face and even breasts! It was incredible! The only thing that told her that this wasn't an Asari, were the bone wings sprouting forth from the beings back.

And the last one was a primate that had fur atop its head. It was dressed in a very official red cloak with golden epaulets. This seemed to be the one that the Batarians had seen the most of on the ground, if their faces were anything to go by.

And these aliens had somehow managed to build their societies without Eezo and managed to build things that are 75 kilometers long!

When the primate spoke, it had confidence and authority in its voice. What surprised her even more, was the fact that they understood it.

"I am Emperor Valerian Mengsk of the Terran Dominion. At my side is Hierarch Artanis, of the Protoss, and the Queen of Blades, of the Zerg. We are the three species within the Koprulu Union. We are here to discuss the imminent attack on our space and are here to deliver a warning and demand a withdrawal of your forces."

{ _Tread carefully Councillors Tevos, Valern and Sparatus. The Firstborn do not take lightly to insults. Nor do the Terrans._ } What appeared to be the grey skinned alien, the Protoss, said.

Sparatus frowned. "I don't recall telling you our names, Hierarch."

Kerrigan's eyes glowed with power as she answered psionically. ( _We can read minds and do the same thing your biotics can._ )

The leaders of the Union all chuckled when they saw the Citadel Council look around wildly at the voice in their heads.

"What is that? Who is that?" Valern nearly squeaked with fear.

"It appears that I neglected to mention that psionics can communicate telepathically as well. We will be landing at the Presidium in 3 minutes. Any warships entering this system will be considered hostile and we will open fire upon them. Again, you have 3 minutes from… now. See you then."

As the faces winked out of existence, the Councillors simply couldn't move.

Finally, Tevos called the head of C-Sec, Executor Pallin, as soon as the shock wore off.

"Executor, please send a security detail to this point of landing on the Citadel and stay on a tram at all times. Once they land, escorts them to the Council Chambers. We will not need a security detail within the Chamber."

A few moments later, an aide came running in, panting, completely out of breath. "Councillors, there is an unknown ship flying through the Citadel and is heading towards the Presidium. It looks like a crystal, no cockpit or cargo area. This could be a trap."

Valern smiled grimly at that. "No, it is not a trap. When that Queen entered my mind, I could see fragments of hers. There was so much death, so much pain, but no deception. They will attack us if we do anything hostile, but otherwise, they will leave us alone. The connection was broken before I could learn anything about them though."

"Well, let's go meet them before anything happens."

* * *

Executor Pallin

03/15/12

1230 Cycles

As he stood in the middle of the Presidium, the C-Sec officers next to him shuffled nervously. He understood their hesitation, it wasn't every day that the Citadel met a new species. And to meet three in a single day could prove to be amazing, or disastrous. As he watched, a flimsy crystal looking thing glided down into the Presidium. It looked flat and was just a crystal with gold metal rimming the edges. What really shocked him, was what happened after the thing had stopped moving. The thing transformed. The wings moved over and started to slowly spin around the 'nose' of the ship. Then, cubes appeared below the thing. Those cubes slowly became the beings that the Councillors had seen. There was the Queen, the Emperor and the Hierarch. What really surprised him though, was that none of them had any guards. He expected at least a little caution, and maybe a bit of desperation, but no guards made him think they were simply overconfident. When the cubes disappeared, none of the C-Sec officers noticed the three slight shimmers that landed near the three leaders.

"Welcome to the Citadel, the seat of the Council. You will be escorted to the Chambers with your guards, if you have any. Do you wish to have some?" Pallin asked.

{ _We are all here Executor. We will follow you to the Chambers._ } Artanis answered.

It occurred to Pallin that the Hierarch had either ignored, answered his question or avoiding it. Nonetheless, Pallin nodded and brought the trio to the Chambers. All sorts of citizens stared at the trio, no doubt wondering who these people were.

As the trio reached the Chamber, Valerian telepathically ordered Nova and Tosh to get behind two of the Councillors while Zeratul was already behind Sparatus.

For a while, the most influential leaders in the Galaxy stared at each other, waiting for the other to make a mistake. Finally, Sparatus broke the silence.

"Welcome to the Citadel, uh, I apologise, I don't know what to call you all." Sparatus was about to continue when Valern sputtered after reading Pallin's report.

"You can read minds? That...That's impossible! There is no way that anything natural could do such a thing!"

Artanis' eyes narrowed. { _Tread carefully, Councillor Valern. I will tell you once again that the Firstborn do not take lightly to insults, nor do the Terrans. It will do you well to not insult or question us._ }

Valern opened his mouth to say something, thought be better of it, and closed it just as quickly. Artanis and Kerrigan, however picked up on his thoughts and decided to make a point.

"Oh, don't worry, we are more than capable of protecting ourselves." Kerrigan said in are sickly sweet voice, answering Sparatus' thought on how overconfident these 'new babies' on the galactic scale were. "While you are correct about us being newcomers on the galactic scale, we are more than capable of defending ourselves. We are not interested in controlling the galaxy. We will fight to stay away from you, but we will not actively be at war with you. We will leave each other alone, unless you wish otherwise?"

This gave the Councillors pause. This Union was powerful, definitely, but who said that that power wasn't going to be used against them? Perhaps a mutual agreement of not sending anything into each other's space would be sufficient…

"We would like to have you as friends, perhaps not as allies quite yet, but mutual acquaintances will be sufficient. So no sending ships into each other's space." Tevos said after a while. Sparatus shot her a dirty look while Kerrigan and Artanis laughed. Tilting her head to the side, she asked them why.

{ _I was simply laughing at the thoughts Councilor Valern was throwing your way. None were very nice._ } Artanis chuckled then sobered considerably. { _I suggest not continuing that thought Valern. We will destroy each and every single drone you send into our space._ }

"We will defend ourselves against anything that comes our way. Especially if those things can leave millions or billions dead." Valerian's face was stony as he talked to the Councillors.

Sparatus straightened slightly in surprise when it looked like the Emperor had experience in such disasters.

"Could you elaborate on that please? You have definitely experienced such things in the recent past."

All three leaders looked at each other uncomfortably. Kerrigan sighed and motioned for Valerian to tell them.

"All right. First I'll have to tell you of our First Contacts..."

* * *

Well, that's a wrap!

As always, please Read, Review and Recommend!

*L-Master: An abbreviation of a Leviathan Master. These are basically Admirals of the Zerg.

*QEC: A QEC is Quantum Entanglement Communication. It basically forces two bonded particles to do the same thing so that communications is near instant.

-IAnswerToNoOne


	4. Chapter 4

**Wow, a blank page. Sorry, first thought that I had when I saw this page. This is amazing! Alright, this is the last installation for this month. The reaction I have gotten is amazing! 68 Favourites and 99 Follows! This is AMAZING!**

 **THIS MESSAGE IS TO ALL MY READERS:** Let me make this clear, I will always take any OC submissions to heart and use them if I can. Just send them to me via PM and I will add them in. And please put reviews in the review section...please?

 **Anyway, let's get on with the chapter now shall we?**

 _Italic = Thoughts_

{ } = Protoss speech

[ ] = Zerg hive mind speech

( ) = Psionic speech

Again, I own nothing. Blizzard owns the Starcraft franchise and BioWare owns the Mass Effect one.

* * *

Citadel Chambers

03/15/12

1442 Cycles

To say Valern and the others were shocked would be a massive understatement. They were so confused that they were almost catatonic.

"So, let me get this straight, you guys were in a seven year war and now you're all just allies? Because of an enemy you won't tell us about?" Sparatus was fairly skeptical. He knew they were hiding something, but what?

Valerian shrugged carelessly. "Pretty much. The only thing that stopped us from resuming the war was the fact that we would all likely go extinct. The three of us are quite evenly matched per planet, but as soon as Zerg reinforcements arrive, that world goes down. The Protoss have the best technology and warriors, but are few in number. We, the Terrans, have technology a little ahead of yours, and have a population of about five hundred billion. Then there's the Zerg. They have trillions of men. If it comes down to a war of attrition, then if you're men kill three hundred each, the Zerg would just change tactics and send cheaper and weaker units and they'll overwhelm you with numbers. Over time, we've made new tactics to take each other out. Then, new enemies surfaced, both within and outside of our respective species. We struggled in this war and eventually weathered the storm. Pre-war population for the Terrans was about six hundred fifty-three billion. I'm not sure about the Protoss, but they had much more, and better tech before the Great War. The Zerg were from a really far planet called Zerus, when a being with immense power uplifted them and gave them a hive mind. Then, they became the Swarm. If they wanted a planet, they got it. That was two years ago. Then, the being that uplifted the Zerg was forced away by its fellows, and, well, we had to kill it."

Sparatus scowled. They weren't telling him anything. As he reached for the _horosk_ bottle to his right, he realised that they didn't know their borders.

"Excuse me, but what is the border for your space? And after that, where are your homeworlds?"

Kerrigan was grinning even before the Turian spoke. Tevos and the others struggled to suppress a sigh. The Councillors were really getting annoyed with psionics now…

"Well, since you asked so nicely, we will give you a border of the Sector. We will not give you a map telling you where our main colonies and planets are. And who and where our political leaders are. Unlike you, we like our privacy."

Tevos fumed as the Queen ridiculed centuries of work that the Asari and Salarians had done. The Codex was used to promote trust and equality throughout the Citadel. The way that she just…said it made it all worse. She said it in such a logical manner that it seemed logical and it made no sense to do otherwise.

Sparatus leaned back into the plush chair, swirling a _horosk_ in his hand. He and the others were already several bottles in. This Union has seen more death and war than the entirety of the Citadel, in centuries! While he had all confidence that the Turian Navy could defeat them, he still didn't know what the Union could do. If they all had these 'Arkships', then he wasn't sure. _Then again, they don't know what we are capable of either. The design is distinctly Protoss though, so I hope not…_

Tevos looked at the ground. _This is a disaster… We have nothing to offer them, they don't need to join us._

Valern had the same thought. But he had to try nonetheless.

"This may be presumptuous, but would you like to join the Citadel as a three species Union, or as three separate species?"

"What do you mean? I thought I made it clear that we didn't want to join your Citadel."

Sparatus exploded. "What do you mean? No species has ever declined an invitation into the Citadel in 3000 years! And the only species that didn't join us was incredibly hostile and were capable of incredible feats! They nearly destroyed the entire Citadel!"

"Do you mean the Rachni? Perhaps if we could see them in action, we could compare them to our opponents." Valerian said. He himself, who was a politician, was getting tired of speaking with the Citadel. At least in the Dominion, they didn't sugarcoat anything.

The Councillors glanced at each other and Tevos shrugged. Manipulating her omni-tool, a few images appeared on the screen before them. A Rachni soldier, a Worker, a Brood Warrior and a Queen showed up on a the screen.

Kerrigan gasped when she compared the Rachni to some of the Zerg. Rachni Workers were comparable to Drones and Zerglings. They even had a passive resemblance to Banelings!

The Queen was very similar to Zerg Queens now, but, they didn't look like they had evolved much. Valerian and Kerrigan flinched as Artanis spoke in their minds.

( _Kerrigan, do you think that the Rachni are ancient Zerg? They all have a passive resemblance to Zerg right now._ )

( _It is definitely possible. I'm talking to Isha now. What do you mean...WHAT? Isha says that she has no memory of any lost Broods. And she was here before the first Overmind!)_

Valerian sighed audibly. The fact that the Rachni had managed to push the Citadel back so much would be an amazing feat, even if their technology had improved over the centuries. "Well, to be blunt, these Rachni seem to either come from Zerus, or evolution is playing a really sick joke on us. These Rachni are nearly identical to the Zerg Swarm."

Tevos gaped as she realised what this could mean. "Do you mean that the Rachni have survived? I thought we killed them all 2500 years ago! And you" she said turning to Kerrigan-"you control them?"

Kerrigan shrugged. "I actually don't know. The Rachni you faced could be part of the Swarm, but as of right now, I'm not sure." Turning to Artanis, she started to speak with him psionically. ( _Do you think that the Primals somehow managed to create space worthy ships?"_ )

( _I do not know Kerrigan. The Primals were intelligent, definitely. But to create starships? I think that is a little too far. Even if they could, why haven't they made more?_ ) Atanis sat slightly straighter. ( _Amon. He would have been able to destroy all their ships, if they had any, and then use them for his own purposes._ )

"Well, it seems like we agree that the Primal Zerg were these Rachni. Then, the being that uplifted the Zerg, sent them out to take over your space. I think he used them as a 'test run'." Valerian paused as he thought of the implications of this. "Then, when it proved powerful enough to nearly take out entire civilizations, he weaponised it and sent them to attack the Firstborn."

"And just what would that mean?" Sparatus asked sarcastically.

{ _It means, Councillor, that the only way that you would win in a fight against the Swarm, would be by having enough troops to survive each onslaught. And, if your weapons are like anything that the Batarians have, then you might have a chance._ }

"And then, we would have to deal with the Terrans and Protoss." Valern sighed. The only thing that the Citadel had to offer was Eezo, but the Geth had that already. And the only advantage the Citadel had against the Union were numbers. "Well then, shall we discuss trade or other less formal things?"

The Tribunal looked at each other. { _We apologise, but we have no reason to trade with you. We can provide for all of our own needs. The Union will remain within our space, provided that you do as well._ } This last part was said with a audible frown. Valern jumped a bit as he felt a slight tickle on his mind. Looking frantically at the two psionics, neither gave him any signs of doing it. So, they were either really good actors, or there was someone else…

"We're not alone in here are we?" Valern said, struggling to keep his voice even.

They all smiled, or in Artanis' case, just projected amusement. "You are very observant, Councillor. You are correct, there are three others in this room. Would you like to meet them?"

Sparatus sputtered with indignation as he looked around the room. Not even the best SPECTREs could get into the room! How the hell could these bastards get into the room? And remain undetected until now?

Tevos merely glanced around. "Yes, I would like to meet them."

They gasped when three voices spoke into their minds.

( _Did we scare you?_ ) The loud grating voice of a Protoss said in their minds.

All three Councilors spun around when they heard the voices. The only thing there was a bit of dark smoke.

( _We did, didn't we?_ ) Another voice, more female this time, said.

Valern turned and looked at the Union leaders. They were all amused and it didn't look like they were going to stop it. Finally, Valerian told the three cloaked figures to decloak.

With a shimmer of hexagons, three figures appeared. To Tevos' eyes, one was just like the Queen, while the other closely resembled the Emperor. And the last one, the one directly in front of her, was a Protoss. It had a dark purple mask covering half if it's face and glowing vibrant green eyes, compared to Artanis' blue. It was wearing ornate armour and a bracelet. A heavy cloak draped it's shoulders and he did not move.

( _Don' cha worry, we wouldn't have attacked ya 'less you did something violent or hostile. Then, you would all be our hostages until you order your men to let us out._ ) A deep voice in some accent said. Tevos didn't turn to see who it was, she was still staring at the being before her.

"Tosh, Nova, stand down. You've done your job, now, let us do ours."

Both of them complied and left the stunned Councillors alone. Zeratul backed off, but didn't disappear into the shadows, as was his custom.

"Well, now that we showed you our guards, perhaps revealing the Turian about 30 feet above us? The 'best SPECTRE in the Citadel', Saren Arterius?"

All three Councillors glanced up. The psionics however knew that they had no knowledge that the SPECTRE was right there.

"Get down SPECTRE. You had no right to follow us into this room." Valern glared at the Turian.

"He didn't follow us in, he got in through another entrance. Honestly, he's a SPECTRE, did you really expect him to tell you if he could get into the room? And, so, if you were stuck in this room, he'd have to get in some way right?"

Saren dropped to the ground without a sound. "How did you know I was there? I know about you're psionics,but how powerful are they?"

"It depends. Some of us have a level 10, or a level 1. Level 10 is the most powerful. Kerrigan here, is the only Terran to have such a level. Even some Protoss were weaker than Kerrigan when she was still a Terran. And now, when she's a Zerg, she is the most powerful psionic that we know of. Psionics have the ability to sense minds. So they're telepaths, and telekinetics. Some psionics can 'Telepathically Dominate' someone, depending on how powerful a psionic they are. They can take over your mind, forcing you to do whatever they want you to do." Valerian smirked as he watched their jaws slowly picked themselves off the floor. Unsurprisingly, the first word came from Valern.

"This is impossible! There is no way to do such a thing! I am willing to accept communications, but telepathic domination? That is-" He choked as he was cut off. His eyes glassed over for several seconds as the domination started. When they refocused, he straightened, looked at Sparatus, and told him the location of each and every single STG drone that he knew of. A couple in Geth, Batarian, and Terminus space. Seventeen in Turian space as well as forty in Asari. When the last one was recited, he shook his head and slammed his fists on the table in front of him.

"That was uncalled for! You have just essentially mind raped me! I hereby declare absolutely no-" He was once again cut off, but by Tevos this time. The glare had an easily discernable message, _Don't let your anger become the beginning of a war._

The Tribunal chuckled as they watched the most knowledgeable of the three shut up by a single glare.

 _So it seems as though Tevos has the most away in here. And we still have to deal with Saren here._ "What will we do with Saren? So, you let him stay after, by your own admission, he broke into what is supposed to be the most well guarded room in the entire Citadel? And then just walk away?" Valerian grinned internally as he watched Sparatus shuffle uncomfortably. Even the most powerful of the three had to deliver some punishment sometimes.

"Saren, you are temporarily relieved of duty. If you do this once more, we will consider your transgressions and may remove your SPECTRE status. Is this understood?"

"Of course, Councillor."

"Good, now, as it is, you will leave us for the rest of this meeting."

As Saren walked away, eight words stopped him dead in his tracks.

"And I wouldn't eavesdrop if I were you."

Spinning around, he glared at the Terran 'Ghost'.

Looking around innocently, she said slowly explained. "Well, he wants to protect the Council, and wants to know what is going on in here so he can protect them, so it makes sense, doesn't it?"

The Councillors looked at each other, never having considered this possibility. When they looked at Saren, he merely shrugged and nodded his acceptance, then left the room.

"I believe we have nothing else to discuss. We will see you if you ask for a meeting, or if we ask you. Have a nice day, Councillors." The six of them simply turned into a beam of light, and disappeared from the Council room, and the Councillors.

The three Councillors couldn't do anything as the three leaders left the room. As soon as the beams dissapeared however, they snapped out of their shock. Tevos reached for her Omni-tool and ordered the best Asari Commandos to scan the room and remove all possible listening devices, while Valern did the same. Sparatus just sat there in shock. No one, _no one_ disrespected the Council in such a manner! The _horosk_ in his system didn't help his actions or reactions either. The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to do something that would change all of their lives.

"Councillors Tevos and Valern. I would like to propose something." Taking a deep breath to steady himself for the verbal bearing he was about to get, he continued. "I would like a temporary repeal of the Treaty of Farixen." The expected silence was a lot longer than what he thought it would be. Looking at Valern, he saw his Salarian counterpart had his mouth hanging open. And Tevos had her complexion change from blue, to an unhealthy purple. Valern sighed.

"It makes sense. We know nothing. They could be waiting to attack us. We need more ships, especially since we don't know what they have, or how many they have. And, because of the Geth, they know everything about us. They have the Rachni too. We can't win in a fight. I support this. The Union will construct as many dreadnoughts as we can. And, I doubt the Hierarchy will need any prompting. Tevos, will you follow this?"

Tevos was breathing heavily, trying to keep her temper in check. There was no way that the Asari Republics would create more dreadnoughts when there was an option for a diplomatic solution. Her people would simply not accept such behavior.

"I will do what I an, but this is for the people to decide. If we can get to a peaceful resolution, we will do so. If not, then we will begin dreadnought construction. We will not go and instigate a war by making more ships. We _will_ attempt a diplomatic solution if this does occur." Tevos said with a glare.

Valern agreed wholeheartedly.

* * *

Koprulu Union Tribunal

Union's Wrath

1538 Hours

As the three leaders appeared on the deck of the Wrath, several of the Terrans and Protoss had been laughing. They has all been watching the conversation with the Council through a video feed from an Observer.

"Well Junior, how did it go?" Raynor, who still had politics and wanted nothing to do with it asked.

Valerian sat on one of the chairs as he thought about it. "Well, we definitely made a statement on how serious we are on defending ourselves. But, judging by their reactions, I think we may have accidentally caused them to create more dreadnoughts, ships larger than 800 metres. Which, I suppose is a good thing, in case the Death Bringers do exist and attack them. Other than that, we made sure that they wouldn't come into our space without permission, but we can't go into theirs either. Anyway, how is your ship construction going?"

Artanis shrugged, a habit he learned from spending so much time with some Terrans. { _It is going well enough. The Golden Armada is almost at the point where it was before the Zerg attacked Aiur. With the Spear of Adun, and the Union's Wrath, not many things could defeat the entire Armada right now._ }

"We have about 20 percent more ships than we did before the Zerg attacked Tarsonis. The Umojan and ex-Confederates have joined us, so we're doing pretty well." Valerian was quite proud of himself as he watched the Dominion fleet outside.

"The Swarm is pretty well off. We have a dozen more Hive clusters compared to the beginning of the Great War, our Leviathan count is in the 1800 range, and we have our Mutas, Corruptors and Brood Lords. We can handle ourselves."

Kerrigan grinned as the Geth fleet slowly sidled up next to the Wrath. When 73175283 came up to the Tribunal, they were surprised. It didn't make moves towards them without a reason. When it began speaking, it's intentions were clear.

"We would like to know if the Union is willing to help the Quarians. We would like the Creators to come into the Union, or at least be free of Citadel grudges. They seem very biased towards our Creators. For that reason, the Creators have been forced to stay in space for 300 years. Could you help the Creators, or at least provide asylum for the time being?"

The three of them looked at each other, wondering what the possibilities were. The Quarians had proved to be resourceful and very practical, even with their diminished immune system. After a few seconds of a psionic discussion, they agreed.

"In the contract of the Union, we agreed to aid each other in case one of us require assistance. We will of course assist you in this. I do have one question however, is all this legal? I am well versed in Terran and Protoss law, and the Zerg don't have any, so is this legal with Citadel laws in place?"

73175283 would have grinned if it could. "The Creators are not part of the Council. The Council revoked their place within them when they created us. Therefore they do not fall under Citadel law either."

Valerian smirked. "Well then, I believe it is time to add another species to the Union."

* * *

Wow, this was close. I need to finish this faster. And sorry for a shorter than normal chapter. I am pretty busy. Have a good time for **TWO** months. I need to study for my final exams in January. I will still be uploading on my other fanfic for December though. Have a nice winter everyone!

-IAnswerToNoOne


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

 **Sorry, but this story** **might** **be going on hiatus. *Dodges incoming rocks and raises hands in surrender* I know, I know, but high school is a whole new beast. 3 assignments at a time! What the hell is this?! Sorry 'bout this. I haven't been very well and my teachers just covered me with homework. So anyway, the next chapter is finally up!**

 **The real reason why I haven't uploaded is because** _ **someone**_ **found out that I was 'wasting my time' writing stories when I should be studying. And there went my main source of updating my story, my phone.**

 **On another note, I would like to know if you would rather have 1 4k word chapter a week, or 1 8k word chapter every other week. Tell me with PMs! Not reviews, please!**

 **Sorry about any spelling mistakes in this chapter, I am using a keyboard I am not used to.**

 **I know that I said that I would be uploading for OTFAP, but the times have been very busy so I hope that you will forgive me.**

 **Thank you to all of those that Reviewed my story. Seriously, a lot of the stuff is really useful.**

 **BabLe7: Thank you for telling me that. I had no idea.**

 **Indecisive Bob: Well, I'm sorry if you guys couldn't tell, but in this fic, the Batarians are not an official member of the Citadel. Sure they joined for a bit, but then they just quit it. Their anti-slavery laws ( I know right? What laws?) were a bit too much for them and they left. They are therefore not under the Treaty of Farixen. I am also giving the Citadel an absolutely ludicrous amount of ships. Please remember that the Union** **ships are much more powerful individually, but in a fight right now, the Union will win, but only because of the two Arkships. And even then, every Terran, Protoss and Zerg colony/Hive Cluster will have been hit and about 80% of them destroyed. While the Citadel would have all of their fleets decimated and only the Citadel remains inhabitable.**

 **Amethyst: Yeah, CMC Marines are pretty OP. Ummmmmmmmm, do you have an idea as to how the Citadel could beat them? This is open to all of my readers. Figure out a way to let the Citadel forces beat an average Marine. And, no. The measurements I used will be the official ones in this fic.**

 **Anyway, let's get on with the chapter now shall we?**

 _ **Italic =**_ **Thoughts**

 **{ } = Protoss speech**

 **[ ] = Zerg hive mind speech**

 **( ) = Psionic speech**

 **I own nothing. Blizzard owns the Starcraft franchise and BioWare owns the Mass Effect one.**

* * *

Valhallan Threshold

(Location of the _Tombay,_ scout for the Migrant Fleet)

04/10/12

0300 Hours

Admiral Shala'Raan's legs flew as she sprinted over to the bridge. She had been woken 20 seconds prior by the terrified screaming of her second in command. She had been resting for the last hour but it is never long before she was needed again.

 _Dammit, why can't anyone do things by themselves?_

Coming to the bridge, she immediately turned on her second.

"What? I told everyone not to disturb me for the next six hours, and what happens not _one_ later? What is it?" her voice slowly rising with every word.

The rest of the crew couldn't say anything. Finally, with a shaking hand, the helmsman pointed out the viewport behind her. Turning around, she stumbled back.

 _Keelah! How many of them are there?_ As she looked out the window, she saw what had to be the whole Geth fleet. The sight of hundreds upon hundreds of cruisers as well as nearly 40 dreadnoughts greeted her. Suddenly, her mouth was dry. If they ran, the Geth ships could definitely shoot them down, and if they fought, the same would happen. She looked back towards her bridge crew and swallowed nervously. Even behind their polarized face masks she could see the fear and resignation etched clearly on their faces. Silence had descended upon the crew as they awaited their fate. Some insistent beeping finally forced them to move. Not long after, a strangled squawk came from the communications officer.

"Um, Admiral? The Geth want to speak with us."

Silence once more descended upon the bridge. Glances were thrown every which way while they all absorbed what they had just heard. Shala'Raan swallowed.

"Patch it through." _I hope I'm not making a mistake…_

A few moments later, the normal crackling of two different systems combining was heard. Finally, in a monotone, nasally voice, the Geth began communicating with the Quarians for the first time in 300 years.

"We wish to speak with the Creators. If you fire upon us or call in the rest of the Migrant Fleet, we will leave you and the one chance you have for peace between the Creators and Geth. The Union has given us reason to once again reach out to the Creators. We will allow you a single communication to the rest of the Admiralty Board. We will wait three minutes for your reply." The feed was cut off abruptly.

No one moved on the _Tombay_. No one knew how to react. The Geth, the ones that had forced them off of their homeworld, was offering peace? Shala'Raan shook her head. If the Geth were actually giving them a chance for peace, then the Quarians would definitely try to take it.

Shala'Raan sprinted down to the QEC and sent the emergency contact for the entire Admiralty Board. "For all that we desire, we will return to where we once came."

A few moments later, the faces of the Quarian Admirals came up. The polarized masks of Han'Gerrel vas Neema, Zaal'Koris vas Qwib-Qwib, Daro'Xen vas Moreh and Rael'Zorah all looked at her.

"What is it Shala? Why did you call the entire Board for a meeting? Did you find a new homeworld?" Rael'Zorah said eagerly. As soon as the word 'homeworld' was mentioned, the masks of the Admirals all came up, more attentive than before.

Shala'Raan sighed. "No," all the Admirals slumped, "But, I am now surrounded by the Geth." At this point, she took a massive breath. "Theywantpeacebetweenus."

The board frowned. "I'm sorry, that came out in a rush, could you say that again?"

Shala'Raan tried to calm herself before saying "The Geth want peace. I-am-currently-surrounded-by-what-has-to-be-the-entire-Geth-fleet-and-I-have-1-minute-to-get-an-answer-from-you-before-they-kill-me. Answer, NOW!"

As was custom, the transmission was open to everyone on all of the ships.

Complete silence descended upon all of their ships. Then, chaos. Screaming of joy, fear, rejection and others all came forth from the Quarians.

Han'Gerrel, the most aggressive of the Admirals was absolutely against the supposed hand of peace from the Geth.

"They killed millions of us, forced us onto ships to survive! Why would they want us back now?"

Surprisingly, it was Admiral Daro'Xen, with all her faults, that figured it out.

"What would happen if every Turian that saw us tried to kill us?"

Han'Gerrel scoffed. "Where are you going with this?"

"Just answer the question."

He sighed. "I would have defended myself and fought back."

Daro'Xen smiled. "And what have we been doing to them?"

Han'Gerrel opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again...and slumped in defeat, to many a snigger from the others.

Nervously glancing at her watch, Shala'Raan paled. 12 seconds.

"Yes or no?" she practically screamed.

All the Admirals quickly said yes.

A new squelch came from the QEC.

"You have achieved Consensus. We have joined the Union however. Will you join as the Quarians, or with us?"

The Quarians all recoiled as if physically struck. The Geth, the ones that had attacked the Citadel and killed the Council were part of an alliance? A Union? Who were the others in the Union? Who would want to ally themselves with the Geth? Or did the Geth ally themselves to the Union? With hundreds of questions racing through their minds, the most eloquent thing that they could say was, "uhhhhh…"

Then, the most unexpected noise came from the speakers. Chuckling. A noise that Daro'Xen knew the Geth could not create. Even if they were considered AIs by the Citadel, she knew it wasn't true sentience. The Geth were creatures of pure logic, no true emotions. And yet, it was laughing. But their surprise was quickly placed elsewhere as they heard a new voice.

{ _Do not worry, Admirals. We have upgraded the Geth. And as to why you would join us? There will be no prejudices within our borders._ }

Again, heads flew as they tried to determine where the voice came from.

Chuckles. { _I suppose I should be used to it by now. We Protoss speak telepathically, through our abilities, known as psionics. The Geth have requested that their Creators come join us within the Union. If you wish to join, enter Geth space. They will tell us and we will be there within the hour. You may join us whenever you want. For now, the Consensus will retreat into their own space, and the Union, into ours. We hope to see you as a member of the Union._ }

The Geth that the Admirals were speaking to once again spoke. "Since you are not a part of the Citadel or any other faction, it would be completely legal by any laws to join us. The Consensus awaits you."

And with that cryptic statement, the Geth Armada left.

None of the Admirals knew what to say. They had all wanted to return to Rannoch, but there was always the threat of the Geth. Now, with the Geth on seemingly peaceful terms with the Quarians, they might be able to return. They were speechless at the implications of a peaceful Geth.

Rael'Zorah was the first to voice his glee. Smiling and muttering ' _Keelah Se'lai_ ' over and over.

The crew of all the Quarian vessels cried in delight. They were going home for the first time in 300 years.

* * *

Union's Wrath

Valhallan Threshold

04/10/12

0330 Hours

The Tribunal watched the Geth fleet leave the system and Quarian ship alone. The massive cloaked ship hung in space about 30 kilometers off the _Tombay_ 's bow. Valerian once again marveled at the technology of the Protoss. Not 30 kilometres away from the ship and the Quarians were none the wiser.

Kerrigan smiled. "Well, it looks like they got the message."

Raising an eyebrow, Valerian looked at her. "Which one? That the Geth can attack them and wipe them out, can defend them from almost anything, or that they should join us?"

Kerrigan just smiled at him before turning to Artanis. "So, how much did your Observers tell you."

Artanis would have grinned if he could. { _The Citadel races have all begun to build ships with a near reckless abandon. The Turians are definitely going all the way. They are currently building 3 dreadnoughts right now, and those are only the ones where we have Observers positioned. Still nowhere near our numbers, but the amount of cruisers, destroyers and frigates frighten me. One on one, we will beat anything that they have. I would think that the_ Spear _would be able to take on three or four Turian squadrons while the_ Wrath _could take on the entire Citadel defense fleet. Especially because she can cloak._ } The pride in his voice was unmistakable.

"What of the Salarians and Asari?"

{ _The Salarians have attempted to send several spy drones into our shipyards but your Missile Turrets and our Photon Cannons have destroyed them all. Their ships however are completely different. The Salarians are building 2 dreadnoughts and several cruisers that can 'cloak'. Although their idea of cloak just masks their engine emissions. We can completely hide ourselves from sight. The Asari are going mad. Not a single dreadnought, but two dozen cruisers are under way. Some of them aren't even armed. I suppose that these are supposed to act as diplomatic ships that will be neutral from all sides._ } Artanis lowered his head. { _We were unable to determine whether or not there were hidden shipyards for the Asari._ }

"That was still better than I expected. They didn't appear to have any form of detection, so that's a bonus."

"And their kinetic barriers can be broken quite easily. I was not one of the scientists performing these experiments so if i could, I would like to hand it over to Dr. Egon Stetmann."

"Thank you Emperor. The Batarians all had personal shielding, but their shielding wasn't anything like the Toss'. And, from what we can determine from scavenged and reverse engineered shields that the Batarians 'donated'" quiet snickers were heard, "to us, it will only recharge a certain amount before just giving out. I think they can recharge about eight or nine times from nothing, if it is one of the cheaper ones. The more expensive and better ones can recharge fifteen to seventeen times. But according to the Geth, Citadel species have even better versions. We have discovered how the shields work, but the way they work is actually rather inconsistent. They work by using mass effect fields to make the projectile weight much less than what it did before entering the field. And they need the 'Element Zero' or 'Eezo' to fill up the shield's reserve. Unsurprisingly, it doesn't really affect Protoss attacks, since their attacks weigh almost nothing anyway. Their armor is also negligible. Without shields, a single spike from a Gauss Rifle would shred through 6 and get stuck in the seventh. A flak pistol can go through 4 sets of armour without a problem but gets stuck in the chassis of the fifth. I would however, like your permission to allow us to conduct tests with Zerg units on the Batarian armour and shielding." Looking expectantly at Kerrigan, who nodded, he continued.

"The Zerg will probably have very little to fear from the Citadel though. Most of your weaponry is either melee or not projectile based. Oh, and one interesting thing we did find, was that no matter how much damage, no single projectile would both break the shield as well as damage the being underneath. So we could hit the weakest shield with a Siege Tank, but the person under it would be fine. Unlike Protoss and the new Terran shields."

Kerrigan frowned, this meant that there was something that the Citadel could abuse in a fight. However, there was one thing that was still unclear…

"What about melee attacks? What can the armor stop then?"

"That's where this gets finicky. If your attack is slow enough, it will simply bypass the shield, but if you attack at a speed less than 60 km/h, it will appear as though the shield doesn't stop it. Anything above that however and it will deflect it like any other projectile. A Marine punching full strength goes at about 70 to 80 km/h so they can't do that. Footage suggests that Zerglings can attack at 130 km/h, so they'll have to slow down as well. Also, if your gun is inside their shield boundary,the shield will not protect them. I also request that all Gauss Rifles be outfitted with a combat knife just to help in a melee engagement, not that the Citadel would do such a thing.

Now for their weaponry. Marine armour will at least deflect their Heavy Pistols, Hand Cannons, Shotguns, unless at point blank range, and SMGs unless their shots hit a joint or the visor. The Neosteel plating will protect them well enough. But their Snipers and Heavy Weapons will punch through. Marauder and Firebat armour will shrug it off without a problem, unless, again, they hit the eye holes. From the videos of battles that the Citadel have participated in, they also seem to lack artillery, an important part of our warfare. So Seige Tanks will tear them to shreds. That's all we know for the moment. Thank you for your time."

{ _Thank you for the information, Dr._ }

Bowing once to the Conclave, he left the room.

They all stared at the door long after he had left, all drowning in their own thoughts. Finally, it was Raynor who broke the silence.

"So, anyone think we could go against the Council and win? They outnumber us by quite a bit, but we all have better tech, except the Zerg."

{ _They would not be worthy opponents one on one, but with their numbers, they could very well overwhelm us. I highly doubt that they want to go against us, and I am certain that we will not go against them, but we need to remain separate from them. Once the Death Bringers do come, we need all that we have to defeat them. I also believe that it would be quite an unfair fight. All we would have to do is send all our Dark Templars and they would all fall before our blades._ } Vorazun said, a little smugly.

More of a tactician and military commander than a politician, Raynor grinned. "If we do go against the Council, then let's use what they don't know about and scare them as much as we can. If I may, I would use the High Templars to scare them with Psi Storms, while using things like Colossi to scare them off the planet. I mean seriously, the largest thing that they know is a Geth Col...ugh. An, um, a...Geth...artillery piece, and that's only 3 stories tall, if that! So send everything that will scare them, and then attack with our normal strategies, mostly anti-Zerg, since the will probably overwhelm us with numbers. I hope it never comes to that point, but they will need to know of our capabilities sooner or later, and knowing the *STG, they will try to know as much about us as we can. So, I propose having at least two capital ships defending all of our planets. They will probably have to get in using the Mass Relay, and that is already blocked off with static defences, but we need more than that. I will have a third of the Raider fleet defending the Relay at all times. If anything comes through, they will give them two chances to get out. If they shoot, they will be able to destroy their ships. Any objections?"

Surprisingly, there were none.

The Conclave didn't know, but they suspected that the Citadel Council was having the same discussion. And they were right.

* * *

Citadel Chambers

04/10/12

1300 Cycles

"We need to know more! We prepared the entire Citadel fleet for a fight against them and they just sent their own 'delegation' to speak with us, albeit while threatening us as well…"

Inwardly, Sparatus was pleased, at the very least, they understood the laws of the galaxy. _Speak softly while carrying a big stick._ They had shown them that they were ready to fight at a moment's notice but were still willing to send a diplomatic envoy, that didn't have diplomats, but their actual leaders! That was like sending all of the Asari Matriarchs, all the Salarian Dalatrass' and all of the Turian Primarchs to a single meeting. Of course security would be insane, but they had only brought three guards. That meant that those guards were either the best they had, or they were the best mercenary assassins they could find. Whatever they may be, we must learn how to conceal our forces in such a way. Valern? Any insight on how they turned invisible?"

The former STG member sighed. The STG had been attempting to cloak personnel and be the first to do so, only to find themselves beaten to the punch, by quite a bit as well. Not that he would ever admit that to the Turian. He had been going over the video that the security cameras took and had half the STG trying to figure out how the Union had the technology to turn invisible. But the video only showed two different things. The Protoss had disappeared with barely a shimmer, but the Terrans had done so with a flurry of red hexagons. Which meant that there were multiple ways to turn invisible. Still, it was very hard to determine how it was triggered and how it worked with just a video. For all the STG knew, the Terrans could have used the natural ability of the material that they were wearing to turn invisible. The Protoss was a mystery. Their tech was amazing! He would never admit it, but he personally thought that Protoss tech could be better and more efficient than Prothean. But as it was, the tech could have been on his bracelet or it could have been in his shoulder armour. Either way, he needed that tech. And their weaponry! He had never seen anything like it before. The Protoss had beams of blue that flew straight through their shields and punched holes clean through the ships.

Sparatus was busy poring over everything that the Batarians had on the Union. While it still wasn't a lot, the extra information was always welcome. According to many of the Batarians, Terran capital ship weaponry consisted mainly of _laser_ -batteries. Their fighters however had an innumerable amount of missiles that had high amounts of explosives and they absolutely _shredded_ shields. What was really interesting was that plasma blast that the Terran capital ships could fire. It had hit a single ship and then branched out like lightning, but in _space_! The Terrans were more suited to extremely long range fire, 400, 000 kilometers, compared to the 15, 000 that the Turians were used to. Their laser batteries could have torn the Batarians apart even before they had even fired. The only time that the Batarians got a shot off was when a smart captain micro-jumped in and engaged at what would be considered knife-point range. Even then, the Battlecruisers (as they were now known as) would deal with them using missiles by the thousands, after the smart ones had all died, the Batarian fleet was going to their deaths needlessly. Even though many of the ships got through to the Union fleet, the Union had only lost about 3 dozen ships, mostly smaller and less powerful ships that the Terrans and Protoss had. Fortunately or not, the Zerg were not present at the battle, else he feared that the Union would not have lost anything at all. And now, with the Geth and Quarian fleets, a shadow of doubt began to form in his mind. He had been convinced that the Turian Navy was the most powerful in the galaxy. But now, the Union had ships that could overpower them and it was possible that they could be untouched in that fight. But the Union wasn't the only one with powerful ships. _They can't know about the_ Annihilator _. I haven't told anyone, I used my own money, and had it all built in pieces. And I only let those that I trusted completely even look at the final design! The best shipbuilders were being tasked to build my monstrosity of a ship._ He sighed. _At least, it was, before the Union showed up with that fucking huge ship. The_ Annihilator _was supposed to be the largest and most powerful ship of it's time. A 9 kilometer ship._ He shook his head. _And now, it looks like a baby next to the ship that the Union arrived in. We need to know more._ And their ground forces were all different. They had the same general principal, but their abilities were absolutely devastating. If they all joined into one race, there was no way the Citadel would be able to stop the Protoss alone, at least, not without the Terran's and Zerg's help.

Tevos was scared, as always. She loved the Quarians for the sole purpose of using them as scapegoats, but now, the Quarians had allies that the Citadel neither controlled or had _any_ relation to. Tevos had always been afraid of the unknown. The Union had shown them exactly what they didn't want to see. The Union had shown them that they were capable of defending themselves and were more than capable of attacking the Citadel and were possibly capable of defeating them. Even with the Turians going apeshit on making more dreadnoughts, _with_ 6 _on the way_ , and the Salarians scrambling for Union tech, while trying to better their own. Their own cloaking was improving, although still nowhere near the Union's. There was a bright flash of light whenever they activated the cloak. And even then, the person was very visible through the cloak. There was a very obvious shimmer wherever the person was. It was almost like the heat shimmer but multiplied by quite a bit, in the shape of a person. And considering that the Terrans and Protoss looked nothing alike, and there were no Council races that looked quite like them, it would be very easy to tell who was under that cloak. The Protoss were the worst of the Union.

Valern was amazed. Some of them could constantly cloak and they would absolutely destroy the Citadel forces. According to the reports from STG spy drones, the Protoss are a very practical race that rarely did anything that they didn't need to. They could also 'sense' some of the drones when they entered a certain radius. (10 metres) According to observations, the Protoss have something akin to clans. The 'Dark Templar' as they were known to the Terrans, were very reclusive. To the Protoss, they were known most commonly as the Nerazim. There was the Dael'aam, a proud race that wore a strange golden white armour that very few had seen. The Dael'aam seemed to be the most powerful of the four main Protoss groups. Then there were the Tal'Darim. They were the most ruthless of the four. They were most easily distinguished by their red weaponry and armour. The Purifiers were possibly the most interesting, and easily the scariest. They were all AI's, with no organic body to speak of. They were apparently made of the same mysterious metal, but had the consciousness of a fallen Protoss within it. When he had first seen that, he had spat out the dextro-friendly coffee he was drinking. He was astonished that the Protoss were able to digitise a consciousness and upload it into a metal body, without the mind losing anything. And, their men (which the Union members called 'units' for some reason), all had unique abilities to each faction. It was amazing that the Protoss could create such diverse technologies while all basing it off of the same basic idea. And, each Protoss had the ability to choose which lifestyle it wanted (A/N: I know that I said 'it' in this sentence, Valern still doesn't consider anything from the Union a 'someone' yet, or maybe never will.) The males had the choice of becoming what the Union referred to as 'Zealots', a powerful, fast melee warrior that basically represented most Protoss armies. The females could become 'Adepts', a ranged fighter with the ability to self-teleport. They even had plasma shields that would stop both matter and energy attacks. Other than that, the Protoss were an unknown to the Citadel. They didn't even know how and where they made their ships! And the _Monster_ was an absolute destruction of their laws. The amount of Eezo needed to make that ship must be equal to the Salarian _navy_. And they made _two_ of them. That those ships alone had non-kinetic attacks was an absolute terror. He had seen the plasma travel straight through several ships like nothing.

Saren could only sit and stare as he watched several years worth of spy equipment disappear in front of him. He had spent hours finding spots to put his devices and they just got rid of them. At least he still had the ones that he put on their clothes, but those had to be small and they had no camera. Only audio devices were harder to detect as they used very little electricity and even less Eezo. But really? Could they not see that this was all for their protection?

"SPECTRE Arterius! Come here. Now." The booming voice of the C-Sec officer called of the C-Sec officer demanded.

Inwardly, Saren cringed as he walked gracefully towards the officer. They must have found some of the more… lets just say... borderline legal equipment he had in the room.

"What is this? You do know that these are restricted in even the Terminus Systems? These are known to explode and, cause cancer as well as cause the *Grefcin disease within Salarians, which this was on. And you put this on one of, if not _the_ most influential Salarian in the galaxy? Are you trying to start a war?" His voice had slowly risen until, by the end, he had begun to froth at the mouth as he shouted at the SPECTRE, obviously, the prospect of an upcoming war was scarier to him than he was.

 _Maybe I should change that…_ Saren mused, before turning his attention to the things that he had said.

"I asked one of my friends if he could fix the problem with it exploding, and this model is no longer *Grefcinogenic." At this point, he was lying between his teeth. They were all glaring at him. Seen however did not react or appear to notice the glares. "The Salarians who come in contact with this will not notice and there will be no negative repercussions."

The Councillors, who were standing near them, frowned. After a quick discussion, Councillor Tevos called the SPECTRE over.

"SPECTRE Saren Arterius, you are hereby put on probation for potential endangerment of the Citadel Council and abuse of your position of power. What do you have to say about that?"

He grinned. Time for the big reveal.

"I had these inserted to make sure that no one was inside without your knowing. Not that that would have mattered. I had a listening device in all of your quarters as well as one on all of your clothes, lecterns and one under your skin." At this, all of the Councillors squirmed a bit while looking themselves over. "I also have pressure pads throughout the room, set to send a warning to me when there are less than three beings in the room, and when there are more than nine. And whenever there is a new weight in the room. So when the golden one came in, I got an are let and I came. There are four entrances that I implemented. There is one at the base of the lectern, one in the ceiling, one behind the most likely place that the ambassador's guards would be, and one behind the ambassador himself. Even with my assurance that this was airtight, did you really think that I would just let would-be attackers just hide you in here if you were in danger? I think not. All these precautions were for your safety. So your choice to shun me is, in my eyes, a mistake. But this is your decision. I will not challenge it."

Sparatus glowered at the SPECTRE. "Our decision is final. You will be placed on probation. You will not have any missions for the next two months at least as we decide whether or not your actions were warranted. As it is," at this point, Sparatus smirked. "You will be doing whatever you please. We will not be funding you, but you will still have all SPECTRE privileges."

While the Turian Councillor rambled on and on, Saren knew what he was being given here. He was being given the chance to investigate the Union as he saw fit. By doing this, he was technically not under Council orders, so they were clean, but they were also not hindering him.

"-Do you understand?"

Saren hesitated. This was his last chance to stay away from the Union. Finally, he nodded. "I understand."

* * *

Wow, that one was hard to write. I scrapped this chapter 6 times. **6 GODDAMN TIMES**! It also took me a really long time to figure out an ending for this chapter. And, like before, I would like to know if you would rather have an 8k chapter every other week, or a 4k chapter a week. As always, thank you for reading my stuff.

Oh, and if you guys can get a good exit phrase for me, I would really appreciate it.

PS: I have a Beta/collaborator for my other fanfic, Of The Future And Past. His name is OmegaEntertainment. I suggest you go check some of his stuff out. He does Halo/Pokemon X-overs.

I will answer to you, my loyal readers.

-IAnswerToNoOne


	6. Chapter 6

Wow. Finally finished the last one. That one took forever!

Alright, enough complaining. I would like to thank all my readers for giving me the time of day and reading my stuff. It really means a lot to me.

I have (finally) decided that it will be a Renegade FemShep. She will be ruthless, but she won't let an innocent die. For instance in ME 2, when you have the option to save the Batarian who is dying from the plague in the Mordin story, she will, but when the Eclipse Commander threatens her, she will attack him, with no mercy. She will also push the guy out of the window in the Thane arc. This is because of a brutal childhood with an abusive father, and having joined the Military, and, more specifically, trained under Nova, who repeatedly mind-raped her until she developed an immunity to the psionic domination. So in short, she was abused physically and mentally.

AmethystProne: Thank you for that rant. I guess I could have the Citadel mass produce stronger weaponry, and _maybe_ re-include the Krogan? I guess they could also develop more powerful weapons… maybe the Cain? Nah, then both the Dominion and Citadel will have the same weapon. M-100 Grenade Launcher would be enough to punch through Marine armour at least. Then I'll upgrade them to the M-490 Blackstorm. Uhhhhh, Omni-blades can now officially cut through normal Neosteel. Marine bayonets however, are made from Neo-2, a harder version of Neosteel, so they can't cut through that. But because it is more expensive, the average Marine can't have it for armour. As for an isolated group of Marines, well, you'll see…

Silver: Thank you for understanding and thank you for your answer.

Yoshiki-909: I agree, that is why I put in the part where they couldn't figure out how to do it with just a video. I won't add some Hero-class units, like the Odin, but I will be adding mercenaries, which are better than normal units, but not quite to the level of Hero-class units.

 **POLL PLEASE!** Tell me if you want the Krogan to join the Union or not. _**USE PM'S NOT REVIEWS!**_

 **Anyway, let's get on with the chapter now shall we?**

 _ **Italic =**_ **Thoughts**

 **{ } = Protoss** **speech**

 **[ ] = Zerg hive mind speech**

 **( ) = Psionic speech**

 **I don't own Mass Effect or Starcraft 2. If I did, I would be one hell of a lot richer.**

Orbiting Elysium

Dominion Territory

05/23/12

1200 Cycles

Saren glowered at the rocky planet 20,000 kilometres below him. He had been scanning the planet, looking for an opening to land some of his troops. It was a new colony with a population of only 300,000, of which 50,000 were active military members. Saren growled. 17% of the population was a military force. That's absurd! Even with a Turian mindset, who were the most powerful military force in the galaxy, that was too many men. There was no way the Dominion could support that many men both with munitions and food. _And,_ there were no openings in their sensor arrays. Every last square meter was triple or quadruple layered to prevent 'glitches' in the system. And then there were the anti-air guns. They looked like towers filled with a massive missile rack and had four auto-loading double rocket launchers. He mentally loaded the Towers with the missiles that the Batarians were shot at with, and was absolutely terrified at what he saw. His shuttle was probably the best and most protected in all of Citadel space, but two of those Towers could destroy his ship in seven volleys. And when he compared it to a Turian frigate, he was appalled at how much firepower the Terrans had at their disposal. Apparently, even after all the species in a war stopped fighting, they still didn't trust each other enough to not protect themselves. Add a couple of 'Battlecruisers' and two squadrons of 'Vikings' and 'Wraiths', and the planet was more protected than almost every other minor system in the Citadel.

 _And this is what they consider a 'defenseless' planet._ He scoffed. _They must be sending all of their ships to defend their new colonies. There is no way they could have enough ships to defend all of their colonies this way._ There was a way to enter without being detected, but it was too crazy and stupid, only someone who always shoots first would be able to pull it off. He would have to go through the shield in FTL and come out in the atmosphere, but the timing would have to be incredibly close. And once he'd hit the ground, he would need a squad made up of the best men that he could get to make a bolt hole that they could later hide in.

The Terrans seemed to be the best Union member to att-OBSERVE first. They had tech that the SPECTRE would most likely understand, and they all appeared to love their drinks, especially around noon. By the time that they were all sober, he could be in and out with crates and crates of Union tech, where he _would be_ recognised as the best SPECTRE of all time. It had been a month and a half since he had been put on probation, and he had spent five weeks in space just observing this colony as it grew. He had been amazed and yet terrified at the speed at which the planet was being populated and industrialised. He had come here because it was a recently discovered planet near Union space. In the three weeks he waited, there were 57,000 Terrans on the planet, which he had expected. Then the population explosion came. In the next two weeks, 250,000 Terrans had immigrated to the planet. They all came in massive near-cylindrical ships that were easily loaded and unloaded. They built thousands of buildings like the ´Barracks', the 'Factory' and 'Starports'. But the real deal was the massive building that _flew through space_ just to land on the planet. It was three kilometres by three kilometres by two kilometres big. It was called a 'CC' for some reason, but it was clear that it would be their Command Cen… Command Centre.

 _CC. Ha! That's what they call their main building?_

He grinned. Maybe the Terrans weren't so smart after all. Suddenly, he sat up. Here comes the next shipment.

He had spent the last few weeks tracking all of the shipments going in and out of the Colony. So far, there was no pattern to the export, but the import was quite consistent. It came a week after the colony was founded and came every other week after that. He was going to hide just above the transport ship and enter the planet that way. He had covered his ship with the metal that the Terrans had called 'Neosteel' so unless the Terrans could detect Eezo, there was no way that they would detect his ship.

"You ready back there?" The Turian drawled.

The Batarian Eclipse commander spat a snot hawking to the floor. "We've been waiting for you to tell us when." He said, loudly enough for the SPECTRE to hear. Then, under his breath, "Make us wait here for the past day and a half." he bitched.

The SPECTRE grinned. He had of course heard the bitching, but this was how he wanted them. People fought harder when they were annoyed, he found. "Don't worry! Remember all of the tech that the Salarians will happily pay for."

Making a noncommittal grunt, the Batarian turned away.

When the ship came near, Saren expertly guided his ship towards it. Stopping a mere three metres away from the hull, he smoothly accelerated to the speed of the ship, now identified as a 'Hercules' and traveled alongside it. The Eclipse members stopped breathing. The SPECTRE simply focused on keeping the distance between the two ships minimal. Slowly, the ships passed through the scan.

After what seemed like an eternity to the Eclipse, the ship made it through to the colony itself. Upon re-entry, Saren's ship, with it's cargo, peeled off from the larger one and activated its cloaking.

Saren grinned. Phase one complete. Time to get into a settlement.

Elysium

05/23/12

1700 Hours

Minerva Shepard stepped onto the planet with no sound and looked expressionlessly at the area around her. The tall, raven haired woman slowly took in her surroundings. The landing area she was in had four Missile Turrets in the area, along with three Bunkers, manned with Shrike Turrets, two Marines, a Marauder and a Firebat, along with the four Goliaths permanently there for guard duty.

It wouldn't be enough to stop a Protoss, Terran, or Zerg charge, but it would buy the colonists enough time to evacuate. She made no noise as she made her way to the Command Centre, in the back. Several Marines, who were obviously drunk, hollered at her.

"Hey!" A particularly drunk one cried out, while slurring all of it.

"Wanna join meh? Weee can sow you a goooood time…" swaying unsteadily from side to side while spreading his arms for a hug.

Minerva snorted and flipped the drunk Marine the bird before cloaking and continuing towards the CC.

 _Stupid drunks. Can't they tell that they might get attacked soon?_

She frowned. _How many SpecOps personnel are being deployed to the new colonies? There's got to be something better to do with my time than just waiting for the attack to come._

A gun clicked behind her, in front of her and above her.

"Drop your cloak. We are just Marines in charge of protecting the CC. You are Terran. We will not fire first unless you do not comply, in which case, we will open fire." A soft voice said.

Grimacing, she dropped the cloak and raised her hands. "Good job. I didn't even hear you closing in on me."

The lead Marine smiled. "That's how we protect the CC here. We don't move in and close in on them. They come into this area and we wait for them."

Tilting her head, Minerva thought of the possibilities.

"Why are you here?" The voice cut across her thoughts.

"Nova sent me to protect the Command Centre. She and Tosh also sent the other SpecOps personnel to the other new colonies. The Brass thinks that these are going to be attacked soon. What are your standing forces?"

The lead Marine, who called himself Zaeed, grimaced. "I'll have to bring that up to the boss. He can tell you that. Come on. I'll show you to him."

The whirrs and chuffs of the Marine power suits echoed in the corridors while the quiet hum of the Ghost suit filled the silence.

The thud of Zaeed hitting the button was the loudest sound heard in the last three minutes.

"Come in." A tired voice called out.

"A Ghost here to see you sir."

"Yes, yes, I was expecting you. You can stay Zaeed."

The man was rather rotund, with an elegant handlebar mustache. He also had his assistant, a rather ordinary looking man who, according to Zaeed, always spoke in a monotone, with him.

"Specialist Minerva Shepard reporting."

He rolled his hand. "I know who you are. And what you want. We have the normal defense package. Three Siege Tanks, one Thor, ten Marine squads, three Marauder squadrons, twelve Medivacs, twenty four Vikings, twenty four Wraiths, and the two *BC's in orbit. Income comes from the metal we get from this planet, instead of Vespene Gas, Minerals, or food, like the other planets. We're the first only metal mining planet in the Dominion."

That was a decent force, more than enough to stop an attack from the Citadel. At least long enough for reinforcements to arrive.

"I believe that there will be an attack coming within the next week. Will you be receiving more men within those days?"

Zsinj sighed. "Two weeks. The last shipment just came with the tanks."

Minerva nodded, still expressionless. "At least they'll have to get onto the planet first, just to attack after the Tanks arrive."

Melvar looked out of the window and, in the bland monotone voice that he was known for, said "Well, looks like there are already Councillors here. And hostile, if their armour and weaponry has anything to say about it."

Quickly and efficiently, Minerva grabbed her Rifle off her back and scoped in on the area of which Melvar was pointing. Looking out of the window, she saw several battalions of white 'droids that had red circles for a face, marching upon the settlement. They all had Hand Cannons, Heavy Pistols, or M-23 Katanas (shotguns). All of them walked in perfect formation, obviously trying to intimidate the Terrans. Little did they know, the Terrans were used to such numbers being pitted against them.

The rocky field was covered with boulders and crags that the Mechs could use for cover. Ahead, the unforgiving ramp that would lead into the Terran meat, or in this case metal, grinder that is the Terran infantry. Add in the three Tanks, and the Citadel forces didn't have anything that could take more than one Tank shell. Only the largest Mechs could take more than two shots. Their kinetic barriers would completely block one shot, another shot to get through the armour, then another one to take out the actual circuits. Those were the only ones that really stood a chance against the hail of Impaler spikes and Punisher grenades that was soon to be thrown their way. Minerva frowned. This wasn't right. They would attack with real men to test them. Especially with their shields. They couldn't know how their shields would be affected by Union weapons, unlike the other way around, where the Union had already tested Citadel shields against their capabilities.

 _They have to be doing something else._

"Zsinj! Contact the other settlements on the planet. See if they are under attack. Melvar, get me a squad of your best Marines and all of your SpecOps. I need them. Have them meet me on the south side of this building. Then tell them to be ready to sweep this entire settlement. They would have come in with a small infiltration force. Have some civies use their flak pistols to make up for the loss of firepower. Just have them fire blind. We have enough." as Melvar scrambled to relay the instructions, Zsinj sat there watching. Having noticed this, Minerva turned her attention to him.

"Zsinj! Are any of the others under attack?" At his negative response, she quickly switched tracks. "That's it, go back to running the colony."

"Wait! I can't seem to get a response from anyone, so I think we are being jammed."

"At least they're smart enough to do that." And with that, she spun around and left the room with the grace of a cat.

3 Kilometres Away From the Settlement

05/23/12

1455 Hours

Saren's ship landed just outside the settlement, container in tow. The thrusters flattened the grass in a ten metre radius and scared several animals away. Landing softly, as to not disturb his cargo, he hopped from the Kodiak and shouted at the Batarians still huddled inside.

"Get out! Activate them Mechs and send them towards the colony. They should be there in about two cycles. At that point, I would very much like to be at their gates!"

As the Batarian Eclipse members scrambled to comply, Saren snorted. The mechs would die to the Terran forces, while he and the other men would go and get into the settlement. That was the plan anyway. They still didn't know what the Terrans had for detecting devices.

Two hours later, the mercenaries and disgraced SPECTRE waited outside of the settlement and watched the Mechs March to their doom. They already had several cameras set up ready to catch some footage of the Union military force in action against a possible threat.

The team of eleven marched through the bush, occasionally looking around to see if there was anything following them or not. When it was clear there wasn't, the group would move another hundred-fifty metres before checking again. The group slowly made their way to the Command Centre, and when they finally did, they waited for the Mechs to begin firing. At the first sound of a ping sent them exploding into action. They ran straight to the cliff that separated them from their quarry. Then, they jumped the thirty metre drop.

Five metres before they hit, their mass reducing technology activated, slowing them down to the speed of how a paper would slowly fall. They sat at the bottom of the cliff to see if their arrival was noticed by anyone. The seconds became minutes. Finally, the group ran up to the different buildings in the compound. Tearing open doors, they found buildings full of food and munitions, another one for men, where they could sleep, another for making vehicles, and a massive one for building what had to be spaceships. There was only one weakness to the design that the Terrans were utilising.

 _Why are there so many buttons? Why don't they use a holo-board? It would be so much easier!_ _And, where they sleep, it is so rough! Everything here is made with function, not form in mind._ He smiled, even if he didn't want to. _The Asari would be appalled, but us Turians would probably congratulate them._ Grabbing a sample of the metal, he also grabbed some of their food, munitions, and grabbed some of their 'money'. A crystal like mineral, and some green gas in a cylindrical cylinder. Ordering a Batarian to get one of their weapons, he looked around to see how they would get out. Rappelling up the wall still seemed like the best option. Grabbing a bag each, the group sprinted to the cliff wall. Saren threw his hook up to the top of the cliff several times, only stopping when he was certain it would hold their weight. Climbing up, he made it ten metres before stone shrapnel peppered his face, and the rope snapped. Spinning around, he looked frantically for the shooter. Spotting a tiny glint, he yelled at the others to find cover.

"Sniper! Get down!"

Seven hundred metres away, Minerva calmly reloaded after destroying the rope.

"Rope's down. Go get 'em."

"I'm already there."

Through the scope, Minerva watched as all the Batarians scrambled for cover. Through the mic, she heard three shots sound, and watched three Batarians two shots of her own off, she got three more. Soon, only Saren was alive. She knew Spectres were good hand to hand, but she wasn't sure about the Council SPECTREs. Turns out, not so good. The Council SPECTRE was not accustomed to fighting someone with momentary bursts of speed and strength, amplified by the Spectre's psionic energy. Saren was forced back to the cliff where the Spectre, named Jax Vakir, slammed into him with his full psionic energy. The Council SPECTRE, now pinned against a wall, could only glare.

"Minerva, got him up on the wall. Should I do the read?"

Having already thought about this, she gave him the go-ahead.

"What do you want from me? I won't tell you anything." Speaking calmly, Saren glared hatefully at the primate walking up before him.

With a feral grin from the Terran, _something_ slammed into him. He could only scream as images and flashbacks took over his mind. First, his most painful memories, then his orders, finally, his information extraction methods. When the flood of Images stopped, he was dropped to the ground. Jax smiled at the fallen form as it slowly curled up into a ball.

"I could have used your own strategies to get information, but, I think my way hurts more." He said in a very slow drawl.

Minerva stepped up to the fallen Turian. With her customary expressionless face, she stared straight into his eyes. The Turian couldn't find it in him to look away. Minerva tilted her head slightly to the left, then jerked it to the right. And just like that, all memory of the last six weeks were wiped from the SPECTREs mind.

Several Hours Later

Saren got up off the floor of his ship groaning. Everything was spinning. Stumbling over to his alcohol cabinet, he thought he saw, as everything was blurry, that over two dozen previously full bottles of _horosk,_ were now empty.

 _Ugh, how drunk did I get? I finished_ two dozen _bottles of the_ horosk _? What happened to me?_ Crushing pieces of glass beneath his boots, he stumbled over to the washroom, he slammed the door open hurled all of his previous meals into the toilet.

 _Is this really because the Council stopped giving me full SPECTRE privileges?_ He frowned. This wasn't right. There was no way that being put on probation would cause him to have such a reaction. He laughed heartily, still under the effects of the alcohol. _I love this! The Union just want to be left alone! Hahahahahahahaha_. Still swaying, he jumped into his bed, and resigned himself to the inevitable headache and hangover the next day would bring.

The Settlement

05/23/12

1755 Hours

Minerva stared at the rejoicing Spectre. "What are you so happy about?"

Jax smiled, not caring that this was a professional atmosphere. "I made that guy think he was drunk for the entire six week time period. I emptied over twenty four of his alcohol bottles, and then broke a few. With any luck, he'll be completely out of it for the next three days."

Tilting her head slightly, she asked in an almost amused tone. "Did you make him drink the alcohol?"

Jax grinned impishly. "He might be a right bastard, but I couldn't let good alcohol like that go to waste, now could I? Oh, I also saved a sample of the stuff, just in case the eggheads want some."

"Well, let's go see the Conclave. I would love to see their reactions when they hear that one of the Terran colonies has been attacked."

The Spectre backed up a bit as he saw the dark grin on her face. It was… primal. He shook his head. That just reminded him how deadly the woman before him really was.

And that's a wrap. Ok, just so you guys know, I don't have like three chapters done ahead of time. I have to work on this stuff during the week.

Oh shoot! Sorry guys (or girls, whichever)! I am so not used to having no school during the week. I normally tell if it's Sunday by having to go to school the next day, so sorry 'bout that.

I still need a exit catchphrase. Damn.

I will always answer to you, my loyal readers.

-IAnswerToNoOne


	7. Chapter 7

Hooray! Next chapter! As per a 7 to 5 vote, it will now be one 8k chapter every other week, as I think you could tell. Sorry to the people that voted for a 4k chapter every week. Oh, I also counted all 'I don't care' answers as one each.

 **IT'S ALIVE! HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!** OK, umm, sorry. 《Scratches head, blushes and looks sheepish.》One of my favourite stories just got back after a really long time and I am really glad. It's called 'Harry Potter and Future's Past' by DriftWood1965. I have always loved the HP universe, and when I started reading fanfics after the, in my opinion, pieces of shit that were books 6 and 7, I saw this one. Read it when it was still in the fifteen-ish chapter range and read it update by update. Loved every word. So, all HP fans out there, **GO READ IT!** 《Blushes again》 Please.《Several of my other favourite authors reviewed it as well, such as RhysThornbery, Philosophize, and . Just shows how much this story is loved.》

AmethystPone: First of all, I would like to thank you for giving me such helpful reviews. They will probably change the course of this fic. (I know one already did) Remember though. The Council has the economy of several _nations_ behind them, not just the Big Three (Turian, Asari, Salarian), and the Union is still technically three separate nations that are allied together, like the European Union. Any one of them could split off when they want. Even if the Citadel just has the Big 3 however, they still have a very strong economy. They still have the Batarians, Volus, Hanar, and a couple others to help them. The Council could out produce the Terrans to an unimaginable degree. It would be a 'Quantity has a quality all of its own' situation. The Union would have the Quality, while the Council would have the Quantity. The Protoss would have the worst production rate out of all of the factions, but they would still have the most powerful combined army.

Guest: Thank you for telling me that. I knew there was something wrong when the name came off my fingers so easily! Ummmm, guess I'll have to change it. His name is now Jax Vakir. Sebastian' younger brother. (As well as a re-named OC submitted by RedRat8.)

The Shadow 750: Gotcha. No more A/Ns in the middle of the story. (A/N that was sarcastic) No it wasn't. Or was it? (Play dramatic music here) No, it's fine, seriously, I won't.

Greatazuredragon: Well, the Batarian Hegemony is not actually part of the Council in the games. Sure, they may have been a client race of the Turians, but the Turians basically let them do what they want, even bombard a Salarian colony! I mean what the hell?! And, it's not really like they can enforce the Treaty of Farixen, right? What are they going to do? 'Oh, we're afraid that we're going to have to go through your files to see if you are making more dreadnoughts than you are supposed to.' No one can enforce that. So anyway, there really is no limit. And the Batarians just made the 94 I showed, as well as another hundred or so. I mean really! There are so few Batarian cruisers. Where did the rest of the metal go? I am putting them into dreadnoughts. So no I am not voiding it, but I am saying that the Batarians just looked at it and said, "You know what? Fuck that. We're going to do whatever we want."

Yoshiki-909: I am so sorry! I screwed up on your Demi-angel idea review. It is supposed to say 'This is great. I think you should increase the cost a bit though. Maybe increase the gas to 225 or 250? And increase the Mineral cost to 450? And this is for two. Remember that four Marines cost 400 minerals.' (I might add your 'Demi-Angels' into my story, with your permission, of course.) Also, hell yeah! Someone else who likes SAO! Waiting for season three and the movie!

 **AUTHOR's NOTE PLEASE READ**

 **I may or may not have gotten a PM on how my 'Drunk Saren' scene was a bit too realistic. Don't worry, I just researched the effects of getting drunk, and put those down on paper. Also, I DON'T CARE IF THAT MUCH** _ **HOROSK**_ **WOULD KILL HIM. HE DIDN'T DRINK ALL OF IT!**

 **REVIEW RANT AHEAD! DON'T READ IF YOU DON'T WANT TO!**

God Damn it! Some idiots just don't know what the hell they're talking about. Just re-read one of my favourite fics, and some idiot just spammed 'helpful criticism' even after the fic hasn't been updated in a year! And those are things that you would send in a PM, not a review. 《Wipes brow and cleans keyboard from spit that came out while screaming》Whew, I love a good rant! Haven't done that in a while. Feels good!

Those God damned pieces of fucking shit! It happened again! After I read the 'helpful criticism', I actually started reading the reviews on some of my favourite stories, and now I'm reading crappy 'helpful criticism' that doesn't do shit. Thanks a lot to random reviewers that have just made me break my 'f' key.

END OF RANT

And, to all of _my_ reviewers, **WHEN THE HELL DO YOU SLEEP? I GOT REVIEWS AT THREE IN THE MORNING!** (Unless you are from another time zone, then you are excused.) ;)

 **Anyway, let's get on with the chapter now shall we?**

 _ **Italic =**_ **Thoughts**

 **{ } = Protoss** **speech**

 **[ ] = Zerg hive mind speech**

 **( ) = Psionic speech**

 **I don't own Mass Effect or Starcraft 2. If I did, I would be one hell of a lot richer.**

* * *

Union's Wrath

Orbiting Ulnar

05/26/12

0900 Hours

"They did what?" The cold voice of Jim Raynor cut through the silence that the Ghosts declaration caused.

Minerva closed her eyes briefly, in quiet exasperation. "They attacked Elysium. They came with the 'Best SPECTRE' and attacked a border colony. Even if he did it on his own violation, that at least deserves some retribution. I think we have to show them that we will not allow such a thing from happening."

Kerrigan nodded. To have this go ahead unpunished would just encourage them to go ahead and do it again.

She however, kept her calm, unlike a certain red armoured Protoss.

{ _What do you mean, just let them go with a slap on the wrist? I intend to attack them with the full might of the Tal'Darim fleet. They attacked your people, do you not want retribution? The Tal'Darim people would demand it._ }

Raynor grinned. "We won't let them go with just a slap on the wrist, we're going to completely take out the mercenaries main base of operations. And, according to the Geth, being a mercenary is borderline/just past the legal barrier. So we can attack them without any worries from the Citadel. And if they do, we can just declare self defense and ignore them."

{ _Using their own laws to prevent them from stopping us. I like it._ } Vorazun said cheekily.

"So, do we all agree to take out this 'Eclipse'?"

With fifteen in agreement, they moved on with attacking the Eclipse.

* * *

Eclipse Base

Escroid

06/02/12

Balik was standing, looking out into space with his scope when he saw a multitude of green, red, blue and orange lights appear on the black, star-studded backdrop of space. The lights attracted the attention of more than one lookout. Over the next ten seconds, the lights grew in size and brightness. Then, like nothing they had ever seen before, ships snapped into existence where the lights had once been, along with one other. There were three distinct designs of ships, not including the Geth dreadnought. One such design used mainly gold armour and blue shields, the other, a dull grey metal, and the last, well, that wasn't a ship now was it? It was like a huge bug. Balik and the others just watched with amazement as three previously unknown species bore down on their base.

* * *

Antioch

Escroid

{ _Selendis, is this confirmed to be the Eclipse Base?}_

{ _Yes Hierarch. They don't seem to be responding to our arrival. Shall we continue and destroy all ships in orbit?_ }

"Wait Selendis. Only the ones with weapons active, right?"

{ _Of course Commander._ }

The ships whirled around to respond to the new threat. Two Turian dreadnoughts, as well as an Asari one seemed you be the flagships of the fleet. There were several dozen cruisers and six wolf packs of frigates. Selendis looked at the oncoming ships with amusement. They had the _Antioch_ , Selendis' Mothership flagship, the _Olympus_ , captained by both Hannah Shepard and Matt Horner, Kerrigan's Leviathan as well as *Platform-53S-D. The most powerful ships of the respective Union species. This was more a show of force than anything. Just because they were here to destroy the Eclipse, doesn't mean that they can't have their fun, now does it?

"Hey Selendis, you wanna show them what they are really up against?"

The twisted side of the Executor showed in that moment. { _Think of their faces when they see lasers fly forth from empty space. What will their Commanders think as they flee from the battle. I will let them come._ }

Sookgoong smiled, then croaked out; in a voice very similar to Abathur's "Just because we cannot cloak does not mean we do not have less than what it seems."

"When do we synchronise the decloak?"

"How about thirty seconds from first shot fired. That would give them more than enough time to get into effective firing range but still not enough for them to get out without significant damage."

"Agreed." Sookgoong said.

Soon, the inevitable flurry of shots that would come from the mercenary ships flew from their ranks. Pretty soon though, Matt realised something.

"Hannah, is it just me, or are these shots coming towards us much slower than normal?"

Looking surprised, Hannah looked at him. "You noticed too? I mean, these shots are moving slow. Like, Corrupter slow. There is no way that these are their normal shots."

Matt smirked. "If it is, well then they're fucked. There's no way that they'll be able to take us out with such weak shots."

{ _Commanders, the first shots have impacted with our forward shields. Start your timers._ }

"Thank you Selendis."

The seconds flowed by quickly. When the thirty seconds ended, there was a sense of dark amusement coming from the Union leaders. And with a single call, the rest of the fleet was revealed.

Balik stared as the shots hit the giant ships, and the giant slug. The shots didn't seem to do anything, not even flare the shields significantly. The Salarian looked at the sky and knew that this was a lost battle. Racing back to his room, he ran straight to his closet and changed as quickly as he could. There was no way that he was getting caught as part of the Eclipse after seeing the damage that the Union could do. Suddenly, he _felt_ something pass over him. But the first thing that he saw when he left his room was the massive amount of new ships. They had just shimmered and come into focus, as though they were cloaked. Balik wasn't an idiot, he knew that his people were working on functional cloaking technology, but to have the Union be able to do it to this degree is an amazing show of technology as well as force. He just hoped he wasn't going to be on the receiving end of that force.

"Sir, the ships are still firing and are moving back." He smirked, "I don't think they liked our surprise."

Smiling gently, Matt looked outside the viewport. There were dozens of Void Rays, Carriers and Tempests hanging in the space below the Mothership. Looking to his left and right, he saw the Terran portions of the fleet. With several Kel-Morian Frigates, and even more Battlecruisers, he knew he had a very imposing fleet. And even though the Zerg flyers couldn't loak, they had the next best thing, the Leviathan. They streamed out of the massive, bloated vessel in the thousands.

 _Not even twenty years ago, had someone told me that we would be able to work together so well, I would've laughed outright into their face. Either that or had a heart attack and died. But now, it seems like we've been doing it for years! What could we have been had we not fought at first? What could we have done?_

Shaking his head, he turned his attention back to the battlefield.

The Eclipse ships didn't pause in their retreat when they saw the revealed ships, if anything, they went faster. That there were suddenly two hundred ships instead of just the four original ones probably scared the hell out of them. They still kept firing however, if their targets changed to the smaller ships. Three Void Rays were crippled in ten seconds. The Union fleet was not going to remain idle though, and they sent their own volley of lasers and projectiles. The barrage from the Protoss slammed into the Asari dreadnought. The Void Rays sliced pieces off of the massive ship, while Tempests shots made dents on the ship's armour. Interceptors zipped around the ship, blasting away at the engine, while the Mothership melted several layers of it's armour. The Terran Frigates fired their brace of missiles while the Battlecruisers focused their ATA-batteries on one of the Turian dreadnoughts, destroying it in a single volley. The Zerg had a bit of fun with its catch however. The Leviathan had sidled up right next to the Turian ship before grabbing it in a 'hug'. Crushed against the Leviathan, the dreadnought did through only thing it could, it went into FTL. Unfortunately, they brought the Leviathan along with them. When it went into FTL, the Leviathan tensed, and crushed the ship in its rather rough grasp.

Understandably terrified, the Eclipse frigates fled the scene, going into FTL as fast as they could.

Hannah grinned. _This will be fun._

"Drop all forces onto the planet. Do whatever you need to take the planet, but try to keep the tech together. That stuff might be useful later. Have the SCVs make a makeshift base. Bunkers and Perdition Turrets everywhere. Tanks behind, and have the Marines make the front lines. Raynor, you've got the rest."

"Got it Hannah. You heard the girl, move it!"

"Let's do this!"

Over the next three hours, the Union forces fought to get a solid stance on Escroid. There were three-quarters of a million mercenaries on the planet and they were all armed to the teeth, and that wasn't including the anti-air turrets that took down multiple transports each. The Protoss had the most luch, only having to get a single Warp Prism down before being able to _Warp_ everything they needed down. Sadly, they weren't able to warp a Colossus in or the AA turrets would shoot them down. Still, just having Zealots on the ground allowed the Union to have a bit of presence on the field. They had no idea whether or not the Council would have been able to detect Dark Templars or not, so the Protoss brought down Adepts, who _Shaded_ behind the Eclipse and destroyed the AA guns before leaving. With that opening, the Terran and Zerg units flooded out onto the planet.

Salarians, Turians and Asari could only watch in horror as hundreds of thousands of beings eager for their blood spilled onto the planet. They were holding the streets and choke points, even if the numbers were on their side. What they didn't expect was the Spanish Inquisitio...no, umm, what they didn't expect were the repeated thumps from a Banshee. Unbeknownst to them, the cloaked fighter flew overhead, before unleashing hell upon the ones below her. The Backlash Rockets slamming into the positions, sending shrapnel everywhere. Forcing the mercenaries out of cover, they were then cut down by Marines, Marauders, and Spectres. Minerva scoped in on the next position.

"Heads up. Machine gun nests, Heavy Weapons towers, sniper towers, and three rows of Battle Rifles, which are negligible. Commander, the positions of the enemy forces are inbound."

"Thanks Minerva. Let's see."

Over the next three hours, Raynor, Minerva, a Geth platform and, surprisingly, the security officer from Elysium, Zaeed, discussed what would be the best way to approach the Eclipse' position.

They eventually decided to have a Battlecruiser hit it from orbit before hitting it with Siege Tanks for an hour, then going in with their heavier infantry. When the Battlecruiser got into position, the Terran forces prepped for a charge. Readying themselves for the inevitable barrage of ATS laser batteries, they hid in their Bunkers and behind Eclipse buildings. When the barrage did hit, most of the mercenaries were vaporized. The ones that weren't ran away. Minerva watched through the scope and shot several of them in the back. Unfortunately, the Terrans and Geth knew that this was only their first line of defense. The next ones would be far harder.

The Protoss was having more luck. With their Adepts, Dragoons, Scouts and Void Rays, they cleared everything out with very little trouble. The Adepts took care of all infantry, the Immortals took on the ground Heavy Weapons, while the Scouts and Void Rays took out what little air presence the Eclipse now had before going to support the infantry. There were thousands of dead bodies behind the Protoss, with only a few wrecked chassis's. All the other Protoss were re only slightly injured as their shields and armour protected them from the flying metal shards. Only the heaviest weaponry would get through their shields, but everything did damage it. (In game, a Vindicator Battle Rifle would do like, I don't know, ummmm, four damage a hit? Normal Marines do six, so I think four is decent.) By the time the battle was over for the Protoss, there were dead mercenaries everywhere, in the streets with holes through their chests, limbs cut off, sprays of green mist after getting hit with a Dragoon. There was no way the Protoss lost that battle.

The Zerg had a very similar outcome, only with losses. Even if there were however, they would all have been replaced very quickly, and with no effect to the greater Swarm. They just overran the mercenaries with sheer numbers, never deploying anything higher in the tech tree than a Hydralisk. Even if the Union was destroying everything that the Eclipse owned, there was no need to expose the Council to more of their units than what was needed. Zerglings brought the dead back to Leviathans, which then brought Infestors in, who 'ate' the bodies, which would soon become the first Infested Salarians, Turians, and Batarians.

* * *

Jona Sederis

Eclipse Base

"What the fuck?! How are they beating us so easily? Better weapons, better armour, more men. Hmmm, perhaps more heavy weapons towers. Yes. Need towers here, here and here." he said, pointing at the holo map. "Send all Battle Rifles to the Insectoid front. They will do the best there. Have the heavy weapons split between the Primates and the Goldens." _Perhaps later there will be time to name them more aptly…_

"Sir, the Goldens have arrived at our doorstep. They went through our defences like no other. Not even Asari Commandos could get through this quickly. They seem to be waiting however. And, even though they are allied, they seem to be attacking with three separate forces. I doubt that they are truly completely trusting of one another."

Jona sighed quickly. "I noticed as well. Perhaps we could exploit it. But how? According to Council reports, they can read minds. There is no defense, yet. Have we saved some of the bodies?"

One of the Salarian scientists nodded quickly. "Yes. I don't think that they will notice. We have two of the small ones, one 'Beetle' and one 'Snake'. We also salvaged one of the 'Flamethrowers' one 'Grenade Launcher' and a 'Marine'. We don't have any of the 'Goldens' though. They seem to protect their dead with a passion I have never seen before."

Jona rubbed his face. The 'Goldens' would probably be worth the most, as they had the best tech, but the 'Insectoids' would also fetch a hefty price. He knew that the STG was researching something when he saw the lack of researchers and scientists. And, with that lack of extra personnel, he had also hacked into their systems, so he knew about the 'Cloaking' tech that the 'Union' had. There was very little else on the so-called 'Union' but it was clear that the Salarian Union feared it. And with that, he walked outside to parley with the approaching forces.

* * *

Three Kilometres Outside Eclipse Base

Minerva, Raynor and Zaeed were discussing how to get into the main base of the mercenaries when Raynor's mic crackled.

"Sir, sir! There is a Salarian walking towards us with both hands up. We think he wants to talk. The Geth have identified him as Jona Sederis, leader and founder of the Eclipse. Should we let him in?"

Raynor looked over at the other two in the room. They both seemed to know as well, judging by the look on Zaeed's face, and Minerva's 'calculating' look. Whether or not she got it from her own sources, or by reading him psionically, it was up to debate, but for the time being, he didn't care.

"I say we let him in."

Glancing sharply over at the psionic, Raynor glared at her. "And, why is that?"

"If he is coming up here alone, then he is either surrendering or is willing to talk, as he suggests." Continuing quickly, as to not allow the Raider enough time to argue, she pressed on. "Even if he is a distraction, we should have more than enough men to take them out. Plus, it our unanswered Tank barrage was any indication, they don't have artillery. At least, they didn't answer our shots. So, I say we let him in."

Sighing, Raynor rubbed his head. "I hate you BlackOps type. Fine." Activating his mic, he told the other Marine to let him in.

Ten minutes later, a visibly shaken Jona Sederis walked into the Command room. Zaeed smirked under his mask. He had obviously seen the four Thors, and did not want to. They were the last defense against an attack. None of the Citadel races had seen anything higher up in the tech tree than Hydralisks, Siege Tanks, and Immortals. A first encounter with a 25 metre tall golem with two four metre long cannons would be enough to scare anyone. Then, Zaeed shuddered. _If they're afraid of a Thor, I wonder what they'll do when they see a Colossus for the first time._

Jona swallowed nervously. "I am here to try and negotiate a less violent end to this conflict. I will give you information that we have, including hack codes into things like the STG and *Turian Battleground. We will give information on biotics, and give you our services from time to time for free. Just please, don't send those things against us."

Minerva smiled at him, a truly unnerving sight. "What do you have on the Asari?"

Jona squirmed a bit uncomfortably, then he sighed, he was here to negotiate a less violent end, not to lie to them. "We know the locations of most, it not all of their shipyards, the locations of their scout ships, looking for new planets to colonise, most 'secret projects' that the government has, and the biotic potential of most Asari."

Zaeed was still grinning under his orange visor. So now they basically had a free militia, information on all of the Council races, as well as a list on their biotic potential. _This is like a dream come true!_

Raynor didn't change his expression from the impassive stare that he was giving. "And what are your terms?"

 _At least they're giving it consideration… This is going to be the hard part though._ "The ability to leave the planet with all currently surviving members. And, we would like to join the 'Union'. Whether as a separate group or as a client race is up to you, but we would like to join."

There was no masking the shock on Raynor and Zaeed's face. Minerva however had already expected this, and was able to not react.

{ _Commander, if we let them join Mira Han's Marauders, that would please both her and them. She would get extra experienced men, while they would be able to have a place with other mercenaries._ }

Raynor jumped,then growled. _Dammit Minerva, it you're going to do that, warn me next time!_

{ _Of course, sir._ }

Glowering at the female, he turned towards the mercenary. "So, you want to join us, right?"

Nodding _much_ too fast, he spoke as quickly as he could. "Yes, and in exchange for this, we will help you when we can, and not go against the Union in any way. If we are hired to go against you, we will not comply. We may however keep the money." Hoping that this was enough to sway the Terrans, he stopped talking and let them think.

Zaeed growled. "And if you don't follow up on your promise?"

Jona's head hung down. "Then I will give you all of our assets. Our lives included. While we may be mercenaries, we still have honor, and I for one, will not allow anyone who is unwilling to let our chance of survival go to waste stay in our force."

Nodding, seemingly satisfied, Raynor turned to Minerva. "Min-"

"Already done, sir. The Protoss and Zerg have been notified of the development, and will not attack the no-longer-enemy forces." Scoffing, she added, "Well shit. Diplomacy actually worked for once."

Sighing, Raynor muttered "And stop reading my mind." under his breath.

"Of course, sir."

"God dammit!"

* * *

07/08/12

Citadel Council Chambers

Executor Pallin shuffled nervously in front of the Council. He had of course been with them, but this was a new discovery, something that has never been heard of.

Valern cleared his throat. "Executor Pallin, are you saying that the Eclipse mercenary group has just, disappeared, or that there are very few left?"

Pallin looked shaken. He knew what the report said, but there was no way that the Eclipse, one of the three most prominent mercenary groups, just up and left. This was unprecedented. He had thought about the possibility that Saren had taken them out, but had soon dismissed it. There were no bodies, and no turianoid or cylindrical heat spots, representing thermal clips.

Sparatus had also read over the report, there were several trenches where there were none previously, and it looked like several buildings had been burnt by something akin to a solar flare. But since there were undamaged buildings not three hundred metres away, the Salarian scientists knew this was not the case. There was an unspoken possibility however. The possibility that the Union could harness solar energy and turn it into a weapon. If so, there was one weapon that could possibly destroy every single ship that the Council species could offer, even the _Destiny Ascension_. No one bothered telling the Salarians to try and develop a superweapon of their own, since they knew they were going to try it anyway. It would be a difficult task for the Council species, because everything required Eezo, and the larger an object, the more Element Zero it required. And they weren't allowed to use nuclear weapons, something readily available in the Terran arsenal. And even it they didn't have nukes, their technology was way beyond anything that the Citadel had ever were many things that the Union held over the Citadel, but the Citadel had the numbers advantage. There would almost never be a fight where the Union would outnumber the Citadel. And then there was the factor that they knew all of the Citadel's tactics and ships, while the Citadel knew almost nothing of the Union. They knew that there were three species allied together, and that they had an incredibly diverse arsenal if the need called for it. There were several others things that the Union held over the Citadel, one being the fact that most Citadel citizens didn't have anything stronger than a Heavy Pistol, or Hand Cannon to defend themselves with, while STG drones reported seeing almost all Terrans with a side-arm of some sort, the Protoss could all use those 'psionic' powers, although with varying effectiveness, and there was no such thing as a Zerg citizen, they were all bred for war. The Council however had bunkers and set areas for civilians to run to in case there was a pirate raid or an attack. Most civilians weren't even qualified to hold a gun. They depended solely on the Turian military and just ran whenever anything attacked.

Valern was devastated, even if they were mercenaries, losing three hundred thousand of his people was a loss. There were hundreds of good fighters that had been enlisted as possible STG members, and losing that much potential, he shuddered. He knew that there were several Turian and Asari SPECTREs, but not that many Salarian ones. Having several Salarians as SPECTREs would allow them to have a much higher publicity rating, especially after the use of the genophage. _As a matter of fact, perhaps we should allow the Krogan back into our society. They were good warriors once, maybe, if we include a 'cure' for the Genophage, they might come back…_ He thought about voicing this with the other Councillors, but decided to wait until the Executor left the room. He also knew about the *'Infinite Mass Gun' that they were developing. This used Element Zero to make the object more dense, instead of making objects lighter, as was its usual use. The gun, in theory, would be able to destroy anything in one hit. But the amount of Eezo required to make things go so fast, then for the relativistic effect to take place before the hit, would take thousands of kilometres, and more Eezo than it would take to construct a dreadnought, almost two. Then, the slugs would have to be made of an incredibly dense material that is strong enough to take the speed and not burn up, even in space. There were several tests with this weapon, but none of them were more powerful than the first one, where it exploded with enough power to destroy a sun, which they promptly did. Then, the weapon was dismantled and destroyed, in hopes that no one would ever be able to make it. _But now, I fear we may have to use it._

Tevos was largely unconcerned. Sure a merc group left, but that meant that there were less in the galaxy now. And, with the numbers and ships that they had, it was unlikely that they left for another planet. She thought that they were most likely wiped out by the Union, which she could use as bad publicity against them.

"Thank you, Executor, you may leave."

Bowing, the Turian left the room. Valern then turned towards the other Councillors.

"Do you think we should let the Krogan re-join our society?"

The blunt question caught the other two off guard. Normally, they would skirt the question and not ask it until the others were uncomfortable. The Asari and Turian certainly looked uncomfortable with the question. Then, finally, Tevos replied.

"My first instinct is to tell you no, but I'll humour you. Why would they re-join us?"

"We need men that are disposable, at least until we are familiar with their tactics. And then, we need men without endangering the _true_ citizens. Isn't that right, Valern?" The Turian looked smug at having figured out his plan.

Valern acknowledged his point with a curt nod. "Yes, but they need incentive to join us, just having a fight will not be enough. I am proposing that we-"

"Don't even think about it. I will not support this." Tevos' cold voice cut over them all.

Valern tilted his head to the side. "And why is that, Tevos?"

Shuddering with rage, the normally calm and collected Asari spoke, still in that cold voice. "They are killers. If you cure the Genophage, they will come after us again, and then we'll have another Krogan Rebellion. And the last one killed millions! There is no way that I will support this."

Turning towards the Other occupant in the room, the Salarian asked him what his view was.

"I don't know. The Krogan are an unknown, as are the Union. I would rather fight the Union ourselves, but when we were attacked by the Krogan, we had all the signs and we just ignored it. I however feel as though we should re-include the Krogan if we need them. Until then, I suggest we work on a cure. If we need them, we can get a bargain."

Valern sighed. This was what he had anticipated. "Cure coming. Don't re-include them. Got it. I still feel like we are making a-"

"No."

Sighing, the Salarian admit defeat. _Well, time to get back to reassembling the IMG._

* * *

07/09/12

Tuchanka

Jax Vakir stumbled as a strong wind slammed into him. _Dammit! Why is everything here so rough?_ He had been travelling the planet looking for the 'Urdnot' Clan, more specifically, their leader, Chieftain Wrex. There were two other Spectres with him, Hyde Sentine, an idealistic one, but still a good Spectre, and the legendary Gabriel Tosh. He knew that the Union didn't need more allies, but he also knew that the Union needed their opponents to not have more allies. And they couldn't just look at a map and go 'Oh look, there's the Urdnot base.' There were basically no maps of Tuchanka, and the ones that did exist didn't show any main bases of the Clans. The Spectre looked up at the landing pad that he was moving towards. He knew he had felt _something_ , but he didn't know what it was. He had called the other two towards him and he had to wait as they came.

{ _Anything on your mind Jax?_ }

His eyes closed, he sighed. "You know I could feel you from a klick away, right?"

The youngest Spectre appeared in a flash of red hexagons with a grin on his face.

{ _Just 'cause you feel him, it don't mean that you can stop him_ }

Whirling around, he saw a grinning Tosh.

"Alright, what is it?"

Pointing at the tower, he said "There is a landing area in there. I think it goes down underground. I can feel some beings under us. We need to get in there and see if it's Urdnot."

"And if they're not, and they sense us?"

"Then we run like hell while dropping flashbangs."

Tosh chuckled. "Right, thought so."

It took the trio thirty seconds to scale the sixty metre tower. Having the ability to 5 psionically is a real boost. Hyde needed a boost, but they did it in the end. Finding the console, they opened the landing zone and they entered the depths of the Krogan planet.

* * *

Urdnot Wrex

The old, battle hardened Krogan grunted as he sat down on his throne. There had been a battle with Clan Weyrloc and he had gone to support his troops personally. His presence was legendary, even amongst the Krogan. Some surrendered outright, while others had challenged him for the position of Chieftain. He had of course, beaten them all, but it was still a hard ordeal. He was idealistic, of course, but he still wanted what was best for his people, and war between the clans would not be beneficial. He had sent messengers to the other clans, but so far, there were no answers. Sighing, he went over the losses in the fight. _Damn, three hundred warriors, for what? A petty conflict. Bah! Is there nothing that I can do that'll prove that they're only going to kill us more? Maybe I should give up, we are too engraved in our ways. There is no way to prove that we'll go extinct, and even if there was, they'd probably say that 'Then we'd go down as warriors!'_

{ _Do you really think that, Urdnot Wrex?_ }

With reflexes almost comparable to a Salarian's the Chieftain leapt from his throne and whipped his M-22 Eviscerator out from under a rock. Covering everything himself, he noticed that his guards had left. "Who's there? Show yourself! Now!"

A mental chuckle went through his head. { _I will only show myself if you lower_ _your_ _gun. I will not attack you, in fact, I am here on a diplomatic mission. I am Jax Vakir, of the Terran Dominion. I am told that you respect strength. I would like to prove how strong I am._ }Terrans

 _Heh, always a good sign when they have an ego the size of a Thresher Maw._ "Fine," he said, as he holstered his shotgun, "I put the gun down."

Not three metres in front of him, something appeared in a burst of red. And of course, in true diplomatic function, they were carrying massive guns. He could tell that it was just under a metre long, and it was a design he had never seen before. Even the beings in front of him, he didn't recognise. "You want to challenge me?"

Jax nodded. "Although it would not be for the title of Chieftain of Clan Urdnot. I would fight for your allegiance. And, all the Clans under your banner."

For a second, the Krogan didn't know what to say. Then he chuckled. "Heh, you've got a quad, I'll give you that. Fine, down in the Varren pit. With or without firearms?"

The thing before him took its mask off, showing its pale skin. "Your pick. I am willing to go up against you in both ways. "

Wrex looked at the skinny little runt before him. "I'll go ahead and pick without 'em."

'Jax' nodded with easy acceptance as they walked down to the Varren pit. "What weapons will you use?"

The Krogan grunted. Then, he activated his Omni-blade, a custom built weapon with a blue color instead of the normal orange. It was sharper than the average Omni-blade. Wrex watched as the small 'Terran' pulled a foot-long blade from a sheath on his leg. It was made of a dull silver metal, had a serrated back edge and a smooth blade that ended with a sharp point. It was quite the intimidating blade. _Too bad I'm a Krogan._ Another voice started the duel.

"When I count to three, the fight begins. One, two, three!"

When the first sound was made, the two exploded into action. Jax whirled around the burly Krogan, who tried to perform a charge. What he didn't expect was the short tail spinning around and catching him in the chest. He flew backwards before hitting the wall. Groaning, the Spectre got up to see the blade of the Krogan heading towards him. Quickly lifting his knife, he infused his arms with psionic energy, forcing them to not move. When the blade hit his knife, he flipped, through Wrex's legs and landed on his head. With a deft move, the Terran popped the Krogan's back plate off, eliciting a scream from Wrex. Then, he tapped the exposed flesh with the end of the knife, before hopping off. Wrex whirled towards him before just standing there confused.

"Why did you spare me? I am not one for mercy."

"Because I need you to be our allies, or at least not our enemies. We believe that the Citadel Council could be planning to attack us. We respect our privacy. We will not attack you, unless you attack us first. You must have noticed that there will be one less mercenary group then there was. If we have a neutral in the Krogan Confederacy, then we have one less thing to worry about. We will do all that we can to make sure that you will stay as our allies." standing at an 'at ease' position, the Spectre continued. "We are willing to go to assassination, as long as the crimes are proven. What do you need to unite the Krogan people?"

Wrex couldn't believe his luck. He had been contemplating quitting because of a lack of support. Then, like they fell from the sky like the Salarians did, they came with a deal, that which he thought suited his needs more to than theirs. "I need the head of Clan Weyrloc dead. He is the one that I have been fighting for the past few weeks. He is my main opposer. He is one of the 'Pure Traditionalists', who would rather see our people dead and extinct than bow down to the Citadel and keep their people alive. But you seem to only want my word that we will not attack you when I get the Clans to unite."

Jax nodded. "That is it. Just leave us alone and we will leave you alone and maybe help you if you ask for it. Do we have a deal?"

Wrex nodded quickly. This was the best deal that he would probably ever get.

"Well then, let's get to it."

* * *

*Platform-53S-D There is no proper way of listing Geth ships, so here is my code. Platform-53 is pretty self explanatory, it is the 53rd platform. Then, the 'S' stands for ship, then the 'D' stands for the classification, where 'F' would be a frigate, 'C', a Cruiser, and 'AC' a Carrier.

*Turian Battleground: This is the tactical map system where all official military positions are inputted, to show where all fleets are at all times.

*IMG: Yeah, I based it off of the Flash's Infinite Mass Punch, but seriously, why did nobody ever think about using Element Zero like that!

(Please read in a 'Proper English' tone)

Dear readers,

I hereby thank you for your helpful reviews and your patience. Furthermore, your support is appreciated greatly. The help and inspiration is overwhelming at some times. And with that-(hugh, hak, plueh. Kuh, kuh) Ugh… I hate that voice. And with that, have a nice two weeks.

I still need an exit phrase…

-IAnswerToNoOne


	8. Chapter 8

**Damn, am I really at chapter eight? Already? Holy shit. Anyway, this will be one of my favourite chapters for this story.**

 **I think I might have to start ignoring some reviews. I'm sorry, but seriously, the first two pages are just me answering reviews. There might come a time where I will have to stop answering some of you because my story is so popular. So I am really sorry about this.**

 **《** **Jumping up and down with happiness** **》** **Haha! I have just gotten permission to use somebody else's work.**

 **aDarkOne: I'm sorry, I don't know what that means.** **《** **Goes and searches it up on Google. Spits out water and chokes.** **》** **OK, just searched it up. Do you really think so? If you would read my 'conversations' with AmethystPone (which I really appreciate by the way), you'll notice that I am trying to balance the story out, to a point where the Union is not completely overpowered.**

 **AmethystPone: And you come through again. Seriously, thank you so much for always reading my work. And, yeah. I see the difference. I think I'll speed up their shots to a respectable mach 9. Because right now, the Protoss wouldn't really feel a thing. So, C-14 Gauss Rifles fire at speeds of mach 8, while Council infantry weapons fire at speeds of mach 9. This is because the Terrans use 'spikes' something I imagine to be a three inch long piece of neosteel with the bullet's explosive chemical propellant behind it. While the Council just uses metal shards, so I will be allowing the speed to go a bit (understatement of the chapter) faster, not enough to punch through CMC armour in one go, but enough to force them back into cover while the armor repairs itself. Also, right now, Council weapons are like an unupgraded Marine vs a 3-3-3 Zealot. So four or five of them would be enough to take a single Zealot out, about the same as Marines. And up in space, the Terrans have developed shields that can deflect both energy and kinetic attacks, which would weaken them against just kinetics. Until the Terrans and Protoss develops shielding that just affects kinetic attacks, let's just say that it takes three Council Cruisers can beat a Terran Frigate, and seven Council Cruisers to take out a Battlecruiser. And about the fire rate, Council dreadnoughts fire a 40 kiloton slug every two seconds while Battlecruisers can fire their Double ATA batteries at, averaged out from the 'Escape From Mar Sara' cinematic, seven shots per two seconds. Sure, a bit might be from the gunner adjusting his/her aim, but since we have no proof of that, I'll say that it's seven per two seconds. So, in space, their weapons are pretty similar, but their ship armour and quality are completely different. The Battlecruiser could sthoot down the Council missiles if they wanted to while the Council's GARDIAN lasers will have quite a bit of difficulty against the ATA batteries of the Terrans. Actually, strike that, they wouldn't be able to stop ATA batteries at all!**

 **CReaper210: Thank you for your review, and, honestly, that was bothering me as well. I'm adding those parts because I don't know whether or not my other readers know both game's lore as well as I do. And don't worry about being brutally honest. As long as you aren't bashing** _ **me**_ **, and just bash my story, then I'm fine with it.**

 **Guest-Fellowman: Well considering that the three way war between the Terrans Protoss and Zerg had more casualties, yeah. I would think so. Remember, Amon is not really a god. He alone is still mortal. He just has incredible psionic abilities and amazing tech. And, like how Thor said in his first movie. 'Your ancestors called it magic, and you call it science. Well, I come from a place where they are one and the same thing.'**

 **He Who See's: Ummmmmm, what? Dude, you drunk?**

 **Ibradleys: Yeah, I see. Don't worry, I updated the chapter.**

 **IndecisiveBob: Nope! I just fucked up. Really badly. I thought that I read the the Eclipse was founded by a Salarian. Now that I have re-read the article, he is the founder of the Omega branch of the Eclipse. So, I have promoted him! Congratulations Jona!**

 **Yoshiki-909: Wow, alright, so I'll make 'em hard to replace if they get damaged. Damn that's expensive! And what I did was for just two Demi-Angels. Squads of six Vikings would then cost 2250 Minerals and 900 gas. Only one change though, I will be making them mercenaries, not specifically Nova's units.**

 **WARNING! POSSIBLY UNCOMFORTABLE DESCRIPTION AHEAD. I WILL MARK IT.**

 **Anyway, let's get on with the chapter now shall we?**

 _ **Italic =**_ **Thoughts**

 **{ } = Protoss** **speech**

 **[ ] = Zerg hive mind speech**

 **( ) = Psionic speech**

 **I don't own Mass Effect or Starcraft 2. Wish I did…**

* * *

Clan Weyrloc

Chief Weyrloc Guld

07/25/12

"Hraaaah! What is the problem now? We need more men! We cannot let Urdnot see how few men we actually have! We need those men as troops, not for your lab experiments!" Chief Weyrloc Guld roared at the Salarian.

The Salarian who answered him was… strange. He was one of the ones who created the new Genophage, and yet here he was, trying to create a cure. According to the Salarian, he was 'Trying to correct a terrible wrong', but Guld didn't understand. _Maybe he's feeling guilt._ Guld shook his head. He didn't understand Salarians, trying to improve knowledge, bah! But the Salarian was, in his eyes, wasting the lives of several dozen of his warriors! He needed them on the front lines! And now they were dead, at the hands of another Salarian.

"I am getting closer! There were only a few kinks that I need to fix. But, by adding this specific hormone, and adding these antibiotics, I can fix this problem, but add several new ones. Please! I need several months to fix this! It was a group of twelve that made this strain, and it took them four years to develop! I am just one person and I don't have time to do this! I need help from more doctors! Or even the new 'Union' that the scuttlebutts are throwing out. The rumours say that they have a ship longer and larger than the Citadel!" The Salarian stopped working for the moment and started pacing the room as he thought. "The amount of Element Zero required to keep that ship flying must be astronomical! Maybe they use another metal, lighter and stronger than what we use. Actually, not necessarily stronger, just lighter. Hmmmmm. Ah, right, I need help to finish this by the time the Urdnots overrun you. I suggest either a peace talk, or a cease fire in order to get me enough time to finish the cure. I am also curious if my name still has any meaning within the STG. Perhaps I should ask for some trustworthy friends to help me." He shook his head. "No, too many questions. I think the Union would be the best option, if they exist of course. If they don't, then I will just go around asking for help from scientists that have no special connections with anyone." He spun towards the surprised Krogan. "Still, I need more time, more men, and better and/or more resources. I can't do this with problems. There is no way that I can do this."

Even if he was amused, he was starting to get irritated. It doesn't help that he was a Krogan, and he was going to go Krogan Berserker. "So you want me to have a peace talk with Urdnot Wrex. And then you want me to buy you enough time to get a cure. Heh, you've got quite a bit of nerve."

The Salarian rolled his eyes at the Krogan. When he answered him, he raised his voice to dangerously rude levels. "I may have that, but that doesn't change the fact that I need time and resources, neither of which I have!" By the end, he was shouting, with spit flying everywhere.

And with that, the Krogan lost it. The red mist descended and he rammed the Salarian. Gasping, Maelon flew backwards and hit the wall. The impact cracked his ribs and he fell to the ground, groaning in pain. He got up onto his knees, and coughed out some blood. Grimacing, he got back onto his feet, where he swayed slightly. "If you kill me, then I will no longer be able to help with a Genophage cure. You need me." He laughed breathily. _Now I sound like one of those little villains from the holovids._ "Either you kill me and I don't help _you_ , or you let me live and I help other Krogan factions." he said, slowly pulling a M-5 Phalanx from within his robes. He knew it wasn't much, but it _might_ be enough for him to escape. The Krogan, still in his Berserker Rage, picked him up off the ground and roared in his face. Guld grabbed a M-9 Tempest and brought it to bear on Maelon's head. The Salarian saw the opportunity and took it. He lifted the barrel of his gun directly underneath Guld's chin, and he pulled the trigger. There was no sound, but the Krogan snapped to the side, and Maelon was covered with brain matter when Guld fell to the ground and landed with a meaty thud. Gasping for air, Maelon dropped to the ground and landed on his hands and knees. Groaning, the Salarian got off the ground and looked around for the shooter. He knew that there was no way that his M-5 could have done that much damage. Add in the way that the Krogan fell to the side, further proved his point. He brought his gun up to a defensive position as he walked in the direction that the shot had come from. He did jump however, when he heard a voice in his head.

{ _If we show ourselves, then will you shoot us?_ } The words were spoken a bit condescendingly.

Maelon grinned. "Will you shoot me?"

{ _No._ }

Maelon glanced around before slowly putting his gun down on a nearby table, then he took two steps away from it. Far enough away to make sure that they wouldn't be uncomfortable, but close enough that he can get it back quickly. What both shocked and scared him however, was when the two figures appeared. Both were wearing masks, and they both had massive guns that looked like they could kill a Krogan in one shot. That bothered him. As an STG member, you had to memorise every single weapon developed, but he had never seen this one before.

{ _That is because we are not from the Citadel. Yes, we are of the Union. Not so imaginary now, are we?_ }

Maelon scowled, then blinked and stood up straight with surprise. "You knew I thought you were imaginary?" His eyes hardened. "And how long were you watching?"

He smirked. "If I may, I'll continue that 'Evil Person from the holovids' idea. Long enough."

The Salarian gaped in surprise, his jaw hanging down low, then he growled. "How did you know that? I didn't even tell Guld! Can you read minds?"

He couldn't see it, but he could feel the smirk from beneath the mask. Maelon gasped, temporarily forgetting the situation that he was in and let his inner scientist out. "You can! What evolutionary trait allowed that? I've never heard of anything being able to read minds!"

"We can't just read them, but we can manipulate and communicate through them. We are known as psionics. With our abilities, we can do the same things that your biotics can, with the added ability of being able to manipulate the mind. It's hard to get control of, but once you master it, it is, quite hard to live without them. It would be like your Omni-tool. You get it, and now you use it for everything. We psionics have ... quite the range of abilities, not that we'll tell you all of them."

He may have been upset, but he understood the need to remain secretive. And, since they could read minds, they knew what he was trying to accomplish.

"Yes, we do. I wouldn't be surprised if we are allowed to take you in and help you make one. We don't allow the use of bio-weapons. And we certainly don't allow something like genocide."

Quite irritated, Maelon scowled at the Terrans. "Could you stop that?"

Again, that smug grin returned. "Of course."

The Salarian grinned. They were good conversationalists after all! "Will you stop it?"

"Now that's a whole new question, now isn't it? Fine. I will stop it."

"Alright," he said as he backed away from the table. "What do you want from me?"

Tilting his head to the side, Jax answered the Salarian. "We actually didn't know that you were here. Our mission was just to take Weyrloc Guld out. You being near him was unexpected. Perhaps we can make a deal. We will help you create a cure, we're working on one ourselves, but this would be helpful, and in return, we would like to have access to a 'pure' Krogan sample. We could synthesise a cure much more easily if we can tell what damage the virus did to them."

Maelon couldn't believe it. They were giving him access to the best tech that they could offer, in return for something that he could get … relatively easily. His eyes narrowed. "That isn't it though, is it. You want me to help you understand us. Sure the Geth may have told you about us, but you want to know how we go about our normal lives."

"I will neither confirm nor deny your comments."

The Salarian harrumphed, then he sighed. "I accept."

* * *

08/15/12

Tuchanka

Urdnot Clan

Wrex watched the three figures approach his throne, one of them carrying a bag. Even though they had done what he wanted they were still walking cautiously. Some Krogan may have attacked them even after they did their dirty work, but he wouldn't.

"My Terran allies. Have you killed the Chieftain?"

As a response, the bag was hurled toward him. Instinctively, he pulled out his gun and shot it. An agonised scream came from the bag. Curious, Wrex opened it and saw the head and body of Weyrloc Guld, minus the arms and legs. It looked like the appendages had been torn off before being cauterised with a torch. He also had a rather large hole in his side.

"As you can see, we haven't quite killed him, but he is no longer a problem. You can do with him as you would like."

The grin that formed on the Krogan was nothing short of terrifying. _Heh, what shall I do with you?_ Looking up, the Urdnot extended his hand.

"I would like to thank you, both for taking him out, and giving me a chance to save my people."

Taking the Krogan' hand, they both shook, maybe a bit harder than normal, but us showed the respect they both had for each other.

Jax grimaced. "We also found a Salarian working on a cure for the Genophage. Technically, he was under a contract for Clan Weyrloc's Chief, but since I defeated the previous Chief, I am now the new Chief. I am giving you the option of taking over Clan Weyrloc. It will bring you one step closer to unifying the Clans, one step closer to recreating the Krogan Confederacy. Or, you could just kill Guld now and get control of Weyrloc yourself."

Said Krogan lifted his head off the ground painfully. "Kill me, Urdnot. Prove to me that you would do anything for our people. Even kill one of our best fighters."

Wrex nodded grimly. "I will grant you the death you want." Lifting his Eviscerator, he aimed it at Guld's head, and pulled the trigger. The pulpy explosion that followed was very satisfying, for both parties.

Jax clapped. "Congratulations, Chieftain Wrex, of Urdnot and Weyrloc. Now, as per our agreement, I would like you to swear an oath that you and your men will not oppose Union forces, should we meet on the battlefield."

Nodding, the Krogan cut his palm with his Omni-blade. "I, Urdnot-Weyrloc Wrex swear upon my honour that me and mine will not oppose you or your allies on the battlefield, should we meet."

Having learned Krogan customs from the Geth, Jax cut his palm before clasping hands with Wrex. "I accept your word and hold you to your honour."

And with that, the pact was made. The Krogan would not march against the Union, should they meet upon the battlefield.

* * *

"You know, you aren't that bad with the diplomatic part of BlackOps." Hyde said wistfully, as they walked back to their ship, a modified Terran Hercules, with the ability to cloak, enter warp and use the new 'Boosters'.

Jax grinned. He had never been on a diplomatic mission before, mostly because there was no one to talk to. All of the Terran factions had joined the Terran Dominion, the Terrans had no reason to communicate with the Protoss, and most Zerg couldn't communicate with Terrans. He was a bit nervous with this mission. According to Tosh and Minerva however, he did very well. _At the very least, they weren't disappointed,_ he thought as the trio entered Tosh's ship.

"Where are we going next?"

Tosh grinned, his white eyes dancing with mirth. "After we drop Maelon off on Haven, we go to Omega. We are going to go get ourselves an assassin."

Hyde frowned in confusion. "Between us and the Ghosts, don't we have enough assassins in the Dominion? Why would we need a Citadel assassin?"

"Because they can hit them with weapons that don't incriminate us."

Silence filled the cabin as the trio entered warp.

* * *

Haven

Dr. Hanson

07/28/12

"Amazing," Hanson said breathily. "This is absolutely amazing!"

Maelon smiled proudly, but there was pain in his eyes as well. "I am glad that you think so, but we are here to create a cure for the virus, not admire it."

Hanson smiled sheepishly as she backed away from the microscope. They had been studying affected Krogan tissues for several days now, but this was the first time that they had seen unaffected tissues, and there wasn't much that was changed. Only the birth rate was affected.

 **WARNING STARTS HERE**

They had used Protoss tech and scanned Wrex, before comparing him to one if the unaffected samples. They then used a simulation and that was what made Ariel react that way. The virus was parasitic. It would take energy directly from the Krogan and then it would affect the Krogan testes. It actually _ate_ the sperm and left themselves in the way. When they fully digested the sperm, and after it has taken its place, it left an infertile organic blob that could then be transferred to females through sex. The virus would then eat the ovum, rendering the female infertile as well. There may be some Krogan that have not had sex in a long time that might not be affected by the Genophage, but their natural desire to mate kept the parasite going on strong.

 **WARNING ENDS HERE**

The Genophage was a marvel of bioengineering, even if it was made for soft genocide. It made her really want to meet the people who made it. Sure Maelon is one, but she wanted to meet them all. Ariel shook her head. This was no way to think. Not when one is trying to make a cure. She had looked at the parasite and had determined that the only way to cure the Genophage was to not have sex.

Still, it might be possible to create a phage _for_ the Genophage. This possible virus could eat the parasites and then die out, leaving no possible side effects.

Ariel shook her head. That would take month to make. _But it would be better than to tell an entire species to stop trying to procreate and wait for the parasites to die._ Starting to pace, the Doctor had an internal argument on whether or not to mention her idea, before deciding why the hell not to. Calling the others to the room, they discussed the ways to get rid of the Genophage.

As the other scientists began to filter in, Ariel began to pace, as the Doctor had an internal argument on whether or not to mention her idea, before deciding why the hell not to.

"Could we get rid of it by letting it die out on itself?"

Maelon shook his head. "No, you cannot. We designed it to be parasitic. It takes energy directly from the host and kills all of the fertile sperm. It will live as long as the host does."

Ariel coughed to get everyone's attention. "Umm, I suggest using a phage to kill the Genophage. If we create a bioweapon to kill a bioweapon, then it _technically_ counts as second strike, even if it is several hundred years late."

The scientists mulled it over in a few moments of silence. Then,

"It could work, but this would take several weeks to develop then at least one more week for tests. But if we do do this, then there may not be a chance for another Genophage to work on them again. If they did do as much damage as the Council claims, then we may need an option to keep them contained."

Ariel acknowledged his point with a nod before answering. "I agree that the Krogan might be hard to contain, but there is no way that the Krogan could take out all of the Union. Sure, the Terrans alone might have a problem, but the average Marine should be able to take out a Krogan, with a definite yes if the Krogan only has Mass Effect weapons. The Protoss wouldn't have a problem with them, since their healing factor is useless against the plasma weaponry of the Protoss, and the Zerg would just overwhelm them."

Maelon nodded. "Easiest way. I vote to use Dr. Hanson's idea."

The other scientists stared at the Salarian with disbelieving eyes. This was his greatest work. The thing he will be most remembered for, he wanted to destroy. Sure, it was an abomination, but such a thing is what scientists work for. To be remembered throughout time.

Maelon cleared his throat. The Moebius scientists refocused on the conversation, embarrassed that they had been so distracted.

"So, do you agree?"

Two hours later, the team was working on a cure for the Genophage.

* * *

Minerva Shepard

Haven

08/01/12

0800 Hours

Climbing out of her modified Banshee, Shepard made sure she had all of her weapons and utilities on her before walking towards the compound. As she had already been cleared by the _Fenrir_ , the Battlecruiser in orbit, she walked right into the facility without being checked. Reaching out with her psionics, she determined the position of the Salarian and strode purposefully towards him. Several Marines she had passed in the blank grey corridors snapped off salutes, even though she technically was the same rank, as being a 'Specialist' was rather unclear. Still, being a Ghost had its advantages. Having the ability to read minds is one, not leaving a trail was also very helpful.

Pausing outside of the glass laboratory door, she considered what to say once she entered. _Something that wasn't too aggressive while being assertive. Hmmm._

Pushing the door open, the Ghost walked into the room. "Mr. Heplorn. Would you please follow me?"

Frowning, the Salarian looked questioningly at the other occupant in the room. Catching his eye, and understanding the question, the brunette biologist nodded. Still uncomfortable with leaving with such a heavily armed figure alone, he grabbed his Phalanx and followed. When the female turned around, she saw the barrel of his gun first.

"Who are you? And what do you want from me?"

Faster than he could react, which was saying something, the female batted the gun out of his hands and slammed him against the opposite wall with enough force to knock the breath out.

"I'm just the person that's supposed to bring you to your new team."

The Salarian frowned in confusion. "What do you mean my new team? I'm a scientist. I don't fight on the front lines."

"We don't expect you to. We just want you to work on any technical needs that the team has. The Commander for said team is still under debate. You _are_ allowed to decline this offer, but the Union would like to have a bit of diversity amongst the crew. Having a Council member serving on a Union ship would be a massive political showing. The Union is not prejudiced against anyone, mostly because you haven't really done anything against us." Rolling her head over and staring at the Salarian, she continued. "A thirteen man team that didn't even kill or injure anyone doesn't count. Had they killed someone, we would have retaliated, and I doubt the Council would like to see the Citadel blockaded by half of the Dominion Fleets, the Golden Armada and Zerg air forces."

Maelon sighed. "Please stop reading my mind. It is quite irritating."

"That is besides the point. Will you join the team?"

Maelon leaned back on the wall. Sure, they had done what the Council would never have let them do, but just that wasn't enough to join them on their whim. Still…

"I will join you on three conditions. One, I will be treated the same as any other member of the ship. Two, I will be given full access to every member's medical files, I am a doctor and medic first, so I will need them to take care of my patients. And three, I am allowed to ask any questions about the Union and you will answer truthfully. If you do that, I will join, and we'll be fine."

Minerva's only reaction was to blink once. Considering the circumstances, those were _very_ reasonable conditions. There was one thing that could be a potential problem however and that was the information that the questions might give him.

"I agree with your first two conditions. However, if you give out information that is classified then we will have a good reason to kill you. We will tell you what is and isn't classified. Is that perfectly clear?"

Maelon tilted his head from side to side as he considered. The 'Kill' part discouraged him a bit, but it wasn't all that bad. "I accept. But for reference, what would be considered classified?"

Minerva nodded in understanding. _I know some Ghosts who aren't as smart as this guy._ "Well, locations of Union planets would be classified, most of our tech, including warp travel, how our psionics work, our history, things like that. You have the right to know, but that doesn't mean that you can tell anyone else. Do you understand?"

Maelon gulped audibly as the intimidating woman stared coolly at him. _Who knew such an impassive face would be s scary?_ "I understand perfectly."

A grin broke across the woman's face, the first expression that she wore since he met her. "Good," she said in a sickly sweet voice. "Then, we won't have any problems."

The reactionary shudder spoke for itself. The cold voice just slid across him in such an unnatural manner it chilled his blood. Still, to Minerva's surprise and admiration, he still managed to maintain his composure.

"No, we won't."

"Well then, let's go."

Maelon began to follow the woman when he realised he hadn't told Ariel what he was going to do.

"Excuse me, Ms…" He trailed off as he realised he didn't know the name of the woman.

Minerva hesitated before answering quietly. "Specialist Minerva Shepard, of the Terran Dominion."

"Ms. Shepard then. I just realised that you haven't told Ariel what is happening here. Is she allowed to know?"

Shepard turned and looked at the Salarian. She stopped for the briefest of moments, but since Maelon was a Salarian with increased reaction speeds, he recognised it as a halt. She paused before answering. "I'm… actually not certain. I'll bring it up to Dominion Command later.

Maelon nodded in acceptance. "Tell me if you find out."

Looking sharply at the Salarian, Minerva nodded.

Maelon smiled good heartedly as they walked over to Shepard's ship.

* * *

The _Spectre_

Omega

08/03/12

1000 Hours

The cloaked ship approached the massive space station silently. No onboard electronics were on, and they were drifting.

On board, Jax marveled at the size of the asteroid. It was 45 kilometers in diameter and had weaponry strong enough to take out the ship in a single shot. The trio had already been 'raided' by pirates already, and had Psionically Dominated them. When they made it to the station, they would force the Batarians to bring them deep into Omega, straight to Afterlife, the 'Throne Room' of Omega, where the Queen of Omega, Aria T'Loak, was generally seen. Hopefully, with the potential money that she would get, there would be no altercations. The Conclave had already given them permission to give Council citizens permission and an code to enter Union space.

That was neither here nor there as the ship made its way to the station. When it got within the range that people could see the ship with the naked eye, he activated the thrusters and piloted the ship to a docking port.

The radio crackled. "This is the Batarian Cruiser _Fist of Torfan._ You are entering Omega space. Identify yourself or be destroyed."

Jax looked over at Tosh, who brought up one of the captured Batarians.

"This is Afalea Pafkass of the _Spectre_. I found something that I think Aria would like to see."

"You don't speak for Aria."

"Even if the things I am talking about are mambos of the new Union that she has been hearing about?"

Silence descended upon both ships as they waited for an answer. Then,

"You're in."

Jax looked at the others with a smile. They were in.

When the ship docked, the Batarians grabbed them rather roughly and dragged them out of the ship. Unbeknownst to the guards at the dock, the Batarians were Dominated and were just puppets, and the strings were being pulled by the hostages in their hands. The Turian guard looked at the group and saw the new species. "Bring them to Aria."

The Batarians nodded as they hauled the Terrans to Afterlife. Everyone backed away as they saw the guards and the hostages being moved into the room. The doorman saw the group and immediately let them through. Some of the people in line _might_ have slipped in with them as well.

Aria personally moved up towards the group. She had of course, known about the deal struck by the 'Tribunal' and the Citadel Council. And to see a Union ship in Council space… She was so distracted by the implications that she didn't realise that everyone else in the room had froze on the spot and the only ones moving were her and the three hostages.

"What are you doing here at Omega?"

"We're here to broker a deal with you. We want to know where this Drell is."

Aria grinned. "You know, since you are in Council space, I can bring you to the Council and probably get quite the sum of money."

Hyde smiled. "Just so you know, I have memorised every single law in Council space, as well as every single Union one. I know that the Council doesn't consider Omega and the Terminus Systems as part of their space, so with that, this isn't Council Space. The same applies to Tuchanka. The Union could all attack this station and the Council would never be able to do anything about it."

 _Time to pull out the big guns_. "There's only one rule on Omega. Don't fuck with Aria. And right now, I think you're fucking with me." Expecting to see and hear the rest of her guards pulling out their weapons, she was shocked when none of them moved. She pulled out her Tempest SMG and aimed it at the trio, while preparing a biotic attack in her left hand. "What did you do to them?"

"Don't worry, nothing too bad. I only froze them. Basically the same thing as your biotic 'Lift'. Except in my case, they can't move, not they can't control the way they move."

Aria growled. "What do you want?"

Jax slowly took his guns off and put them down slowly on the table. The others did the same. By the end, there were over a dozen guns on the table. The trio sat down and left their hands on their laps, just to show that they weren't hostile.

"Like we said at the beginning, we just want to know where this Drell is. If there is something else that _you_ want in return, we might help. Depends on what you want."

Aria's eyes lit up with the prospect of having an ally that the Council was afraid of, and even more so if they were an unknown to them. "How's this. If you and the Council engage in war, I don't attack you, and you don't attack me. And maybe a bit of trade between us would be appreciated."

Jax and Hyde blinked in surprise. They wanted to make sure that the Terminus Systems wouldn't help the Council, but to have their Queen suggest it was quite the surprise. And to instigate trade between the two governments…

Tosh nodded in agreement, shocking both other Spectres. "We agree. But only if you don't sell our products to the Citadel. And if we find out that one of your people did, remember, you aren't part of the Citadel. We could come in with our ships and annihilate Omega."

Aria nodded, both in terror and glee. The Queen of Omega was in for the trade agreement of her centuries long life. But that was the future. As for the moment right now, there was something that she still needed to tell them.

"The Drell you are looking for just left. His name is Thane Krios, by the way, and he left for Illium, I believe. Illium is most definitely a Council world. I don't know what he wants to do, but I have several contacts on the planet. I'll tell them to help you, if you can get onto the planet."

Jax nodded. This was going to be a problem. "Could you send a messenger to the Drell? Tell him we are looking to have a bodyguard that is willing to work long term. Several months, at least. And we would also like to know if you know any good Asari fighters. We're hiring a guard for our ambassadors when we enter Council space. We are willing to pay their normal fare for such a time, plus fifteen percent. If you know of any Asari willing to do such a thing, please inform us. As it is, we will be going to return to our space. You can expect some alcohol, some food, some clothing, things like that. Sadly for you, no weapons, or technology. Honestly, I would give you weapons and such just to cement your 'slightly leaning towards us'/neutral stance, but the law doesn't allow it, so I apologise. I might be able to sneak a gun or two in, but my hands are tied."

Aria blinked. "What?" She walked around the Terran for a few moments. "Uhh, no you aren't."

Two of the three laughed uproariously. Jax wiped a tear from his eye. Hyde just looked forlorn. The Asari just watched the display. Jax laughed even harder at her confused face.

"Don't worry," he said as he waved his hand. "It's just a bet that we made. We wanted to see how you were going to react to a metaphor. I won, Hyde lost, and Tosh here doesn't make bets."

The Asari Matriarch sat up a bit taller at the slight. "So I'm just betting material now that we're neutral with each other.", she said in a low growl.

"Of course not! The bet was made a couple days ago. It was five credits to see how the first alien that we meet would react to a metaphor. As you are the first alien that we have really spoken to, and since we didn't say any metaphors when we spoke to Urdnot Wrex, you are the 'unfortunate' subject."

Aria huffed. "Any other 'bets' I should know about?"

"Well, there was one other, but I'm not telling you what it is. Don't worry, it doesn't affect you. Unless you make it affect you."

Eyes narrowed, the Asari began to gather her biotics in her off hand. "What is the bet?", her voice slowly settling into a quiet, cold voice.

"Just wanted to see how some aliens would do in bed."

Aria smiled a bit and nodded in acceptance. "I can certainly understand why. After all, we resemble each other quite uncannily. Unless," she said, running her hand down Jax's chest, her voice changing to something more sensual. "Unless you want me to."

Jax grinned. There were several reasons why he wasn't interested in the Asari, not the least of which was the fact that he wasn't attracted to aliens. Especially ones that remind him of women. Damn scary they are! "While I do appreciate the offer, I don't particularly like aliens."

Aria smiled and mock sulked. "Well then, I'll just have to go on, all alone." The other Terrans were struggling to hold in their snickers at this point.

Jax laughed. "I think we'll do fine as allies, Ms. T'Loak."

"That we will."

Bowing, the three Terrans left the room,amidst the music playing, the frozen guards, and the unmoving dancers. Over the din, she could see 'Hyde' playfully shoved Jax, and could hear him tell him that he should have accepted the offer. She smiled as she saw the trio acting like Asari Maidens.

Still, Aria stared at the backsides of the three boys...no, _men_ who had walked out. They were all extremely powerful, with abilities that most Asari would train their entire lives for. They had just walked into the room, froze everyone with barely a thought and then proceeded to have a diplomatic meeting with the 'Queen Bitch' of Omega. And even disarmed themselves without being prompted. And then the banter, not many people were willing to banter, or even talk with her. Of course, there were several times when Councilor Tevos called her, but those were for the shipments of Eezo that the Asari wanted. Aria's eyes narrowed as she thought about the growing demand of Eezo coming from the Turians. With the amount that they were buying, they must have been building 20 dreadnoughts at once! Aria shook her head, but the idea that the Turians were making more dreadnoughts couldn't escape her mind.

* * *

Omega

"Did you really have to plant that idea into her head?"

"Not really, but it is quite nice. Maybe if we keep doing this for a bit, maybe they'll distrust each other enough that we can come in and take them out."

For several seconds, the other two Spectres stared at Hyde.

No one made a move, then, Hyde laughed. There was no one close enough that could hear them, and Hyde laughed at the prospect of genocide. "Come on. Let's get back to the ship."

They began the long walk back to the ship, but Jax's eyes never left Hyde.

* * *

Council Chambers

08/14/12

1500 Cycles

"SPECTRE Kryik. Come in."

The Turian SPECTRE walked into the room and stared unflinchingly at the Councillors. He had been called there two days prior, and now that he was here, he was ready to get his newest mission. He knew nothing of this mission and was wondering what it was.

"We want you to make a task force that would operate within Union space. We are currently trying to get a pass to allow a single ship to operate within their space. I don't doubt that they would want another ship to operate in our space as a condition. That is besides the point. You are an experienced SPECTRE that doesn't have previous history with the Union. We would rather you do everything you can do to befriend the Union. Since you are trying to be an ally to the Union, I hope you remember your diplomatic lessons." Valern said with a completely straight face. "We need contact with our new neighbor. We can't just leave them alone. If we're going to live in this galaxy together, then we'll have to at least be neutral with each other, not just ignore their entire existence." He looked up at the SPECTRE. "So, SPECTRE. What do you say."

SPECTRE Nihlus Kryik smiled. "I accept, Councillors."

* * *

Damn! That was a scary chapter to write. There was just so much political bullshit happening. I hate having to talk about political shit.

No new terms this week.

-IAnswerToNoOne


	9. Chapter 9

**Hello everyone, my name is IAnswerToNoOne and welcome to another chapter of The Eternal Cycle! Today, we will be talking about what the Council and the Union really want when they send ships into each others space, and the relationship that the two governments have. Now, this one was really fun to write, and I hope you like it too. Anyway, let's jump right into it. (Based off of LowkoTV's intro)**

 **I'm not dead. O.O I know, right? I'm so sorry for not updating in awhile. Homework is absolutely terrifying, all of my teachers do homework checks every day, I have several assignments at a time, I have had a lot more in terms of extracurriculars, and I just can't keep up. So, yeah, sorry. I am also on several teams, all of which are cutting into my writing time. Before this semester started, I had half an hour dedicated to writing. Now, I am basically using whatever free time I have (read = none) to write and continue this story.**

 **aDarkOne: The 'Toss can do it as well, the Zerg might be getting another unit that can do so, and… not telling you this part. That'd be spoiling.**

 **AmethystPone: Not yet.** **《** **Smiles and rubs hands together** **》** **Not quite yet.**

 **Blaze1992: Thank you for the Review. I never said that TIM wasn't going to be in this. I just said that the Systems Alliance won't be in this fic. You'll get a bit more on that in this chapter. Ummmmm, the Quarians just slipped my mind. I have been planning the next bit of this story and I just forgot about them. And thank you for holding back. I know that I had a few plot holes that I fixed, but if you could find any more, tell me and I'll try to fix it. And yes, I prefer PMs over Reviews when it comes to questions. Thank you for the rating as well! I'm glad that you like this fic. I don't plan on abandoning this fic anytime soon.**

 **dveth: I will freely admit that I am biased in this story as I have been playing Starcraft since Wings of Liberty, the first expansion that came out in 2010 and I have just picked up the Mass Effect one last year. While seven years may not sound like a long time for some of you, please remember that I am still in high school. I don't think that I have said this on this fanfic, but I will take all Reviews to heart. Here's the thing. I am willing to take harsh and/or brutally honest reviews** _ **to the story**_ **. As you said 'the author', I took this a bit more personally than another brutally honest Review I received. I realise that there are some (many) areas that I can improve on, and I am trying. Ummmmm, the Zerg. I didn't think that you guys would want a play-by-play for the Zerg, as they would just overwhelm their opponents with numbers, rather than with tactics like the Terrans and Protoss. I would still like to thank you for the Review however, even if you said that you wouldn't read this fic any more.**

 **Swordworks: I'm sorry, I don't understand what you mean by the aliens are war to 'human'. While I agree, the characters talk quite a bit, I am trying to ensure that all of my readers understand what is happening. If I was someone with no previous knowledge on Mass Effect or Starcraft, then it would be confusing. So, as it is, I am trying to explain everything to my readers.**

 **RedRat8: I didn't even post it for half an hour and you reviewed. And I did it during lunchtime while at school! Thank you for the Review and for reading my story. You guys don't know how much you guys reading my work means to me.**

 **Anyway, let's get on with the chapter now shall we?**

 _ **Italic =**_ **Thoughts**

 **{ } = Protoss** **speech**

 **[ ] = Zerg hive mind speech**

 **( ) = Psionic speech**

 **《》** **= Something That I, As The Writer, Am Doing**

 **I don't own Mass Effect or Starcraft 2. Time to get control of it.** **《** **Smiles and cackles maniacally!** **》**

Neutral Space

Union Tribunal/Citadel Council Meeting Area

08/16/12

1158 Cycles

As the _Destiny Ascension_ sat unmoving in space, the Councillors fidgeted impatiently. They had contacted the Union and were waiting for them to show up. The meeting time was in two minutes, but it was always polite to be a bit early. They of course had a rather large fleet in a nearby system, but if the Union came in with the _Union's Wrath_ , they weren't sure what could stop them.

Valern knew the possibility of getting a task force in their space was slim, but having such a force within would allow them to see how the average citizen if the Union would act, and it would hopefully allow bridges to form between the two governments. He was hoping to have some samples of Union technology, as well as some DNA samples, but those odds were negligible. At least there would be less animosity.

Tevos and Sparatus had the same thoughts as their Salarian counterpart, though without the tech. Tevos and Valern wanted to know more about the psionic abilities that the Union had, while the Turian wanted to know what the abilities of the Union fleet consisted of.

"Councillors, ten seconds to the meeting time."

The Councillors took the last few seconds to tidy themselves up before the big meeting.

At the last second, the stars tunneled in and three ships appeared out of nothing. They were once again, the _Olympus,_ the _Antioch,_ and Sookgoong's Leviathan.

The diplomats came in through Warp Prism once again. The small crystalline ship flew into the Asari dreadnought and the three leaders once again met with the Citadel Council. Instead of a verbal beat down like last time, they were all meeting on equal ground.

When a Terran Ghost and a Spectre exited a Medivac, two Hunter Killers dropped out of an Overlord, and two High Templar warped in from their Warp Prism, the Council security guards jumped slightly and began to level their weapons. A slight gesture from Executor Pallin halted that movement just before the Union leaders left the shuttle.

The white and gold armoured one, Artanis, nodded in respect to the Turian, as did the Emperor, while the Queen of Blades didn't bother.

Valerian turned sharply towards the three Councillors. "What is it that you want?"

Most of the officers gasped in surprise. No one spoke to the Council in such a way. One of them seemed to even take personal offense to the rude way that it was carried across, and began to raise his weapon. Again, the Executor saved the officer's life with a gesture, or at the very least the life of his gun.

The Councillors, however knew that the bluntness was just part of their way of life, and not them being rude.

"We are here to discuss the possibility of having a task force in your space. Nothing too big, no more than a force of four hundred. We don't want to have an animosity between us. We want to at least be neutral with each other."

The three Union leaders glanced at each other in surprise, as they had wanted to have a force in their space as well. Still, the three thought about it, weighing the options at the speed of thought. Valerian nodded, then turned towards the Council. "We only have three stipulations. One, we get to have our own task force, two, you don't get to determine how things are governed here and three, not too many people on the planet, no more than a hundred. So if there was a thief, you don't get to decide how to police the man. Or a murderer. Your force would report the convict to us, and we would deal with him. And you will not be allowed to have more than a hundred men on one of our planets at a time, unless it is an emergency, which you can call."

Sparatus looked irritated with that, but nodded his assent. The psionics could tell that he had been hoping to change some of the laws that the Union had to match the Citadel's more, but that was no longer possible. He was shocked however when they said that they could call what an emergency would be. The other two Councillors were fine with those stipulations.

Valern sighed in relief. _That was easier than I thought it would be._

{ _I am under the impression that that wasn't the only thing that you wanted to talk to us about._ } Artanis said, breaking the momentary silence.

Valern smiled. Oh course they would know. The Salarian sighed, but before he began, the Hierarch spoke.

{ _I did not read your mind, Councillor. I have been alive for a very long time, several centuries, in fact. You come to recognise the body language. What is it, Councillor, that you want?_ }

"Well, I wanted to discuss trade once more." At the surprised looks on the Union faces, he continued. "Nothing major. Just alcohol, foods, furniture, anything else that you want. I realise that you have wanted to remain secretive and apart from us, but we would like to become closer as galactic powers. Perhaps one day, we may become allies."

At this, Valerian and Kerrigan snorted, but retained their composure. Valerian smirked as he knew the Citadel would have very little in terms of allies if an engagement actually happened.

"Us becoming allies is unlikely, but in the off chance it does, I would be glad to engage in trade with you. What are you willing to sell?"

"Food, alcohol, furniture, again, no weapons, or shields because of obvious reasons."

Kerrigan stared at the Turian in irritation. "Actually, since we had such an abundance of Batarian shields and weapons, we decided to do some tests, the results would not be good for you."

Valerian motioned for Kerrigan to calm down, before he jumped in, not letting the Council off the hook. "Add in the armour we took off of SPECTRE Saren Arterius, we tested our weapons against both the best and average shields that you have developed. We shredded them. We, as in the Terrans. The Protoss' attacks weren't affected whatsoever, and the Zerg can control themselves enough to go straight through your shields. As for your weapons, we have determined with the Geth that you use primarily the same weapons. As such, the weapons that the Batarians used were studied with and as well. For reasons that you would understand, we won't tell you the results of said tests."

The Councillors were obviously put out with this information, but there wasn't anything they could do about it. Still, they were here to get a task force into Union space, trade was just a bonus.

Valern quickly nodded and shut up. There was nothing to gain by arguing with them. There was one more thing that he wanted to know however. "Is it possible for you to explain how psionics work? Ever since you… 'Dominated' me, I have wondered. Is it something uncontrollable, or is it something that you can put in someone?"

Valerian smiled. This was a side of the Salarian that he liked, not the politician, but the scientist within. "Well, no one know what causes psionics to form in Terrans but it is very uncommon. One in every ten million Terrans is a psionic. There are different levels of psionics, of course. Most are fairly weak, at levels one to five. But the ones that are more powerful, the levels six to nine, they are found and trained from a young age to become most of our SpecOps soldiers. I trust you remember Tosh and Nova? They are psionics, level nines, to be exact, and they are one of, if not the best Terran soldiers."

Valern stared at the two figures with a new respect. He had never really payed attention to them before, but now that he did, he realised that they were two very different people. Their armour and weapons were different, and they even seemed to use their 'psionic' abilities in different ways, if the lights in their armour was any indication. The female had a skin-tight grey uniform with a nasty looking sniper rifle. There were plenty of other gadgets that he couldn't even guess the use for. The other one, Tosh, had dark grey armour that had red lights sliding through it and his eyes were a milky white. Even the vibes coming from them were different. Whereas Nova's was more quiet and contained power, Tosh had a presence that was very aggressive and forced itself on others. He also knew, had he been forced to choose between the two, he would rather have shot himself instead. Both options promised torture and pain. Still…

"So you are open to the idea of trade between us." This was said more as a statement than a question, but there was still that factor in the Turian's voice.

"{ _Yes Councillors, we are. I highly doubt that you would be trading with the Zerg and Protoss however, as we need very little and the Zerg, even less, unless you are privy to giving them meat._ }

Startled, Valerian looked over at Kerrigan. "About that, how are the farms doing? I know that I sent some shipments over. How do the 'lings like it?"

Kerrigan grinned with mirth. "Well, the 'lings love it, as well as the Hydras, but the Roaches seem to like tougher meat."

Valerian grinned ruefully. "One more thing to get done." Turning to the Councillors, the Terran stared at the Turian in particular. "I know that we already agreed to have ships in each other's space, but I would still like to see what type of ship you are bringing into our space. The name, weapon specs and armour specs for our ship will be given to you in return. And… what DNA do you have? I know that we have different strands but I don't remember what you are."

The Turian stared quietly at the Emperor. Then, "We are Dextro-based beings. And I am willing to give you the specs."

Valerian just inclined his head. "Then we will be able to give you the Quarian foods then. And I will give you ours." Turning to the Asari and Salarian, he repeated the question.

"Dextro." came from the Salarian while the Asari said 'Levo.'

Valerian nodded. That was one thing out of the way. "Is there anything else you wanted to talk to us about?"

After the Councillors shook their heads in a negative, the Tribunal nodded in respect and walked out of the room.

Nihlus, who was waiting on the side, walked in. "So, I get a team that can operate in their space. What do you want me to do while I am in their space?"

Tevos straightened and as she watched the dull, metal, two engined ship, the fat bulbous thing and the crystal leave. Still distracted she answered the SPECTRE. "The primary objective of this is to have relations between the Citadel Council and the Union. Anything else that you can help them with is appreciated. If you can make them change their ways, then that would be even better, but the way things are now, you are just going to be the bridge between the two governments. For instance, any questions that the Union citizens might have regarding the Citadel, tell them. In the best possible light of course."

Nihlus nodded. "Who will be on my team? I know of a few mercenaries and bodyguards out there that could do very well with me."

Sparatus waved his hand in dismissal. "Whoever you want. Perhaps you can bridge gaps within our borders as well."

Bowing, the SPECTRE left the room.

* * *

Shala'Raan

Rannoch

08/14/12

The one-time Quarian admiral leaned back into her chair with a sigh. "Why is there so much paperwork?"

Tali'Zorah, her niece and a brilliant engineer smiled under her mask. "Auntie, you knew there would be a lot of paperwork if we got Rannoch back."

Shala'Raan scowled and moaned. "I know, but I wish there wasn't _so much_!" She whimpered as she stared at the pile before her. It was two feet tall and it seemed to grow every second. _How is it that there is so much paperwork, especially since it is spread out over 5 Admirals?_ She sighed. Turning in her chair, she looked over at her niece. "What do you want, Tali?"

Tali plopped down on the bed. "There is a new job opening at the Dominion. They need several hundred engineers, as well as other personnel, medics, and soldiers specifically. It looks like they want to build a new ship, and they want me to help them. Can I go?"

Shala stated quietly at her niece. She new that she was technically her guardian, since her father left and they hadn't been able to contact him, but to have to take care of her like this was terrifying. "Yes, Tali. You can go."

The young Quarian tackled her aunt in a hug. "Thank you auntie." Pulling away, the engineer smiled. She ran to the door and had almost left the room before turning around again. "Are you going to come with me?"

Shala'Raan thought about it for a while before shaking her head. "No, I think that Rannoch and the rest of the Admirals need someone levelheaded with them. I think that it would be best for me to stay here on Rannoch. I do wish you the best at the job though. How long will it be?"

Tali shook her head. "I don't know. They don't know either. They said that it could be several months. I am pretty sure that it will be quite a bit longer, so I think that it'll be seven or eight months."

Shala'Raan rose from her chair and hugged her niece in farewell. "I'll see you soon Tali."

"See you soon, auntie."

And with that, the young Quarian left the room.

Thousands of scenes like this were being done all over Rannoch as Quarians from all over were hired and were going to work.

Thousands of Marines, Marauders and other Terran forces were being evaluated as they came in. In the end, there was only going to be just over three hundred people aboard the soon to be constructed *TD _Normandy._

Somewhere in space, the newly promoted Commander Minerva Shepard smiled.

Over the next four weeks, the Citadel went around collecting everyone that they had previously contacted. Professor Mordin Solus, a Salarian that helped create the Genophage who would provide tech support, Bejnam Tavry, another Salarian that was an experienced Commander in the STG, as well as Nihlus' second in command, Tela Vasir, an Asari SPECTRE that specialises in biotics, and Edide Karmodle, a Turian sniper that got second at the C-Sec shooting range championship, only losing to a disguised SPECTRE Saren Arterius.

The Citadel had trouble creating a ship that could operate in Union space without seeming aggressive, yet was also able to defend themselves. Eventually, they decided on a mostly Turian design, with a central spine and wings that go out on either side. With four engines of Asari design, the ship was quite a bit faster than most other Citadel ships of the same size. With its 4 Thanix cannons, the scaled down prototype of the Infinite Mass Gun, and the most advanced GARDIAN laser systems that they had, it was quite the powerhouse. The ship was going to be 600 metres long and would be the most advanced ship in the Citadel, not counting the _Destiny Ascension_. Still, they didn't know what the Union could do to them. The _CC Normandy_ would be the ideal ship for the Citadel team and it would be the one that they would be using. It had several advantages over observed Terran ships, so it would hopefully be able to win a one on one battle with a Terran ship. _If it's a 'Loki' Battlecruiser though, it dead._ The best thing about the ship though, was the fact that it was incredibly fast, and had a lot in terms of firepower. The compromise was that it had very little armour, and it would fall apart after a few kinetic hits. Thankfully, the designers had taken the fact that the Union seemed to use energy weapons more often than not into consideration and made the armour with a very heat resistant metal that wasn't too weak. While it could operate in atmosphere, it wasn't suggested as the hull wasn't made to survive atmospheric combat, and the hull was very brittle. In other words, it was a glass cannon.

Still, unless they wanted to sacrifice the ability to operate in atmosphere, the ship had its weaknesses.

Nihlus sat at his desk, reading through the files. There were some really good assets out there that he should employ, but he knew that there were still hundreds more to look through. He sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. While some of the crew had already been decided, there was still well over half of the ship empty, and it was his job to pick some more. He wanted to have a balanced set of troops, not necessarily all biotics, and not all snipers, but a good mix. There was still quite a way to go, especially since some of the personnel in the group that he wanted was still technically outside of the law. He would have to go and get them himself. Nihlus glared at the screen. There was an Asari Matriarch that could be asked to join them, but considering the normally passive nature that they had, and their unbelievable patience, there was a good chance that they wouldn't want to join them. Still, having such a biotic reserve would be very helpful. He had some sources that pointed him to a Matriarch who worked as a bartender on Illium however, and, according to them, she looked quite irritated that her views were brushed off so easily. Still, she was a Matriarch, and that would be helpful.

Glancing at the chronometer, he scowled. It was 10:00 at night. _And I still have several hundred more to get through…_ He sighed. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

08/16/12

Dylarian Shipyards

Tali'Zorah vas Rannoch walked off of the transport with a smile. There was quite a bit of noise, with engineers calling for certain pieces of metal, and others grinding metal with their fusion cutters. There were massive rigs that the Terrans called '*SCV's' that used their Fusion Cutters to cut metal, then sent them off to other specialized SCV's to create a workable product. Most of the shipwork was still made mostly by hand though, as the massive rigs weren't the best for fine maneuvers. Tali, as well as several hundred Quarians that joined the same program that she did, stared at the sight. They were on a space station that was three kilometres long and had several construction areas.

"Hey! What're you doing here?"

Tali and the others turned to see two men coming towards them, one of them with a prosthetic arm, and a massive rig strapped onto his back while the other one was rather skinny, with grey hair and grey .

Tali stepped forwards, taking the lead. "My name is Tali'Zorah, and these are some of the other Quarians that came to work for the ship that you're building."

Rory Swann grinned impishly. "Good. We need more people working on this stuff. You know how to use Fusion Cutter?"

Tali blinked in surprise. "A… what?" Glancing around at the other Quarians, she turned back to the Terrans. "No, we don't. We learn quickly though."

Rory smiled. "I don't doubt that."

The other man turned towards him in obvious disgust. "Really? You turned down experienced SCV pilots for aliens that don't even know how to use a Fusion Cutter?" He turned towards the Quarian group. "If you don't learn how to use it in three hours, you're out. That is, if you can lift it."

Tali rose and stared at the man. They were approximately the same height and she got right up into his face. "Challenge accepted. What happens when we win?"

He snorted. "Little arrogant, aren't you? Fine. You get to work on the ship, and you get to look over the design to see what needs fixing." Not bothering to see whether or not they accepted, the man grunted and left.

Rory sighed. "Sorry 'bout that. Ben isn't the best when it comes to aliens. He was one of the colonists on Elysium. That changed his perspective when it comes to the Citadel species, whether it be current ones or ones that they shunned. As long as they aren't Terrans, Protoss, or Zerg, he doesn't like 'em. Most Terrans should be fine. Maybe a bit irritated that you took their jobs, but nothing really bad. And even if you weren't an alien, he runs a tight ship here. He's the overseer of this place."

Tali nodded. "As interesting as that is, I think that I should start working on the Fusion Cutters, I only have a couple of hours to learn anyway."

Swann smiled. "You better get going then. Hey! Chris! Get over here! These are the new engineers. They need to learn how to use Fusion Cutter. In three hours."

Chris sighed before nodding gruffly. "You make a bet with Ben?"

Swann nodded and smiled. "Standard loss. Twenty credits."

Chris grinned. "Well, I better get to work then. C'mon, I'll show you the shop."

The group of Quarians followed the lone Terran to the main metalworking area. The sound of Fusion Cutters and power drills rang loudly around them. Chris brought them over to a calmer area before pulling out the largest handheld machine that Tali had ever seen. "This," Chris grunted, "This is a Fusion Cutter," he said as he slammed it down on the table. Tali gaped at the sight of it. It had a massive cone-shaped top that ended with a focus point that Tali assumed the laser would come out. It had several buttons and levers that seemed a bit out of place. Tali looked over at the Terran. "Excuse me, but why would you need so many buttons and levers just to use a laser?"

Chris smiled grimly. "You need to pull several levers in a certain order, then you have to press two buttons at the same time to use the cutter. The levers are for security, so that no one other than you can use the cutter, and the buttons are to make sure that less workplace accidents happen. If it didn't have the button, for example, and I dropped it, for example, it would just keep going off. With it, as soon as I let go of one button, the thing stops, and you have to do the security check again just to use it." He shrugged. "At least they aren't weakening SCV chassis anymore. Last time they did that, the SCV death toll skyrocketed. Then they went on strike, and the Terran economy dropped like a stone."

Tali could only stare at the massive machine. It looked like it would crush her if she tried to pick it up. "Ummmmmmm," she said plaintively, "how much does it weigh?"

Chris frowned as he took a look at the group. "Yeah, it does look like quite a bit for you, doesn't it? Well, for your information, it weighs about a hundred pounds. Add in the fact that you have to hook your hands in a certain way to hold the machine, I don't think that you can lift this. Uhhh, can you do anything about this?"

Tali smiled. "Actually, yes. Wait, I need to go back to the ship. I have some Eezo there that should help us with this."

Chris shook his head. "I don't know what Eezo is, but it better help you. I hate it when I lose to Ben. Last time I did, I had to work overtime. Unpaid, mind you."

Tali smiled. "I think you'll like it."

Ten minutes later, after she returned with a bag full of dust. Chris stared dubiously at the bag.

"That's going to help you lift the Fusion cutter? Forgive me if I'm skeptical, but I don't think that that'll help."

Tali smiled. She grabbed the bag and sprinkled the dust all over it before zapping it with a battery. Immediately, the table quit groaning and straightened out, contrary to the bent interior it previously had.

"What was that?"

Tali smiled triumphantly, along with the rest of the Quarians. "This is Element Zero, or Eezo. It exists, but has no mass, as such, Element Zero. it has the potential to change the mass of anything that it contacts, provided it receives an electric charge. The cutter should now weigh … 10? 10 kilograms?"

Chris grabbed the cutter and grunted as he lifted it much more easily than normal. He stared in wonder at the cutter. Then, he stared at the Quarians. "You got anymore of that stuff?"

One of the Quarians quickly straightened. "Give me a few hours. I can get some more." And with that, he ran from the room.

Chris raised his eyebrows in response to that. "Well, that just happened."

Tali smiled. "Don't worry, Laob is always like that. He _was_ a crewmember of one of the main mining ships, so I think that he could get us some more. Still, it is nice to have a machine that we can lift. So," her smiled turned predatory. "Show us how to use it again."

Two hours later, Ben walked back into the armoury, certain that he had won the bet, especially since he thought that the Quarians wouldn't be able to lift the cutter. To his surprise, and irritation, he saw the group operating the cutters with a precision and ease that only experienced SCV pilots had. Ben ground his teeth as he saw how well the Quarians were doing. They lifted the cutters with ease and cut and welded the metal better than some of the workers here.

"Hey Ben! How do you think they're doing?"

The floor overseer glared at his second. The grin on his face was way to apparent.

"How are you proud of them? Can you not see how much of an impact having an entirely new species into the Union would affect the economy? Sure it would boom at first, as there is a fresh source of labour, but soon, the boom will even off, and the market, that was already incredibly competitive, would be even more so. There are thousands of applicants for my shipyard, and only a handful make it in. If all of these Quarians were as good as this group, then there would be no Terran metal workers, and no Terran engineers. That means that we'll have more and more people without a job, and more and more people on the streets. Not a word, you! I've had enough of aliens in my life. I don't need more than the two that we had," he said as he whirled around and glared at Chris. "Having the Quarians join us would destabilise the entire Dominion!" Spinning back around, he glared spitefully at the aliens. "Get off of my shipyard."

Kraeger stepped in front of Tali before shaking his head. "No. You made a bet, and you lost. Honour it."

"Get off of my shipyard! If I see another one of your kind on this place, then so help me, I'll space the lot of you."

Before anything else could be said, strong hands clamped down on his shoulders, before dragging him off. Tali and the other Quarians stared at Swann as he dragged Ben off to his locker before calling Raynor. Luckily, the Terran inspecting the shipyard when the altercation happened. Tali could only stare at the intimidating bulk of the man, not only was he really large, but he also seemed very charismatic. Before the Terran could say anything, Kraeger stepped forwards.

"If you are going to be prejudiced against us, just as _that man_ ," Kraeger spat out the words, "then I am considering telling the rest of the Admiralty Board of the injustice that we just experienced. If we have to go through that again, then I will suggest to them that we should leave the Union, as I am certain that the rest of us agree with. You said that the Union has no prejudice, evidently, you are wrong."

Raynor said nothing as the Quarian ranted, just looking on with an impassive face. When the rant finally ended, he took a deep breath and started speaking. "Well, I wouldn't base all of your ideas on one person. I mean, seriously, Swann made a bet encouraging you, and then he helped you to get rid of Ben. By the way," he said as he glaced at Swann, "where is he?"

Rory grinned. "Sitting in the boiler room." At Raynor's disbelieving look, he shrugged. "What? I needed him out of the way, and punish him, but I couldn't do it since I wasn't with him, so I just put him in a spot where he could get out of the way, without damaging our diplomatic talk." Still seeing the look, he caved. "Well, you should've heard some of the things that he called them. I'm not going into the things."

The Terran commander looked at the Quarians sadly. "I apologise for the rudeness. Please excuse him, as he had had one of the worst lives that I know. As it is, I have been… unsuccessful in removing speciesism and racism." He coughed and smiled. "Now that the formal stuff is over, could you tell me what happened?"

The Quarians were shocked at the 180 turn. Kraeger however quickly got over his shock and stepped up to the commander. "We had just left the transport when that man, Ben, started harassing us. He went and insulted our ability, or lack thereof, to use a Fusion Cutter. I thought you said that there would be no prejudice within the borders of the Union. If this is your idea of no prejudice, then we were sorely mistaken when we joined the Union."

Raynor hung his head in shame. "I know. Ben was never the best with aliens, and even worse after he went on vacation. I think he went on vacation to the place where it was attacked. By your government." He held up his hands placatingly before continuing. "I know that it wasn't the Quarian Admiralty, but some people don't understand that, and generalise the fact that it wasn't the Union, so it was them. Who 'them' is, is unclear, but it is clear that it wasn't the Union. In some of our simpler minds, if it isn't the Union, it's the Citadel. I'm sorry."

One of the Marines who was acting as security walked up to Swann. "You said that Ben was in the boiler room?"

Swann nodded. "Yeah. He's in there, tied up as well."

The Marine shook his head. "Nope. He's not in there."

Swann did a double take. "What?"

The Marine sighed. "He got out of the bonds. There was a pile of cut wire there. It looked like it was cut with a pocket-"

"-cutter, right." Swann sighed, before turning to the Quarians. "Yeah, I'm sorry 'bout that. I didn't check him for anything," he said sheepishly.

The Quarians stared at the man in shock. He had just tied up a colleague to protect political bonds, and then apologised to people he barely knew.

Raynor frowned. Ben was a good overseer, organised, responsible, and had quite a bit of money from his job. He ran the shipyard efficiently, and very safely. There were only two instances of injury in this facility, both of which had been uncontrollable. And, since no one else knew about this incident, he was probably already off of the station.

 _Heh, I wonder if he'll start a 'terrorist group', same as me. An anti-Citadel terrorist group. That'd be something. At least he has the resources to properly fund one. I wonder what he'll call it?_

Raynor shook the idea from his head. Ben was a criminal now, and since this was as political as it was physical, he had to go after him.

"Well, on a happier note, how do you like the job?"

The Quarians stared at him for a couple seconds, as if determining whether or not it was a joke question. Finally, Tali answered him. "I like it. It gives me a chance to compare different designs and compare them to our ships. Maybe we could learn something from your designs."

Tali glanced longingly at the schematics that were on screen a few metres away. "I wonder what we could learn from each other."

The other Terrans looked at the Quarian. Swann had, of course, already seen the Quarian ship designs, and was utterly unimpressed. He did realise, of course that the Quarian ships were designed to carry shipping containers, and to sustain life, but there were so many more efficient ways of doing so. Swann still grinned and waved her over to the holo-projector. Tali, as well as some other Quarians, ran over from cutting and started poring over the map. Swann and Raynor could only stare as the aliens argued and shouted over each other, talking about things that the latter could only hope to understand.

Swann glanced at Raynor before running over and animatedly talking with the aliens about the finer points of Terran technology and designs.

Raynor could only stare at his longtime friend in astonishment. Sometimes even he forgot that he was an engineer at heart.

* * *

Citadel

Warehouse District

09/17/12

Saren woke up with both eyes missing and one of his arms torn off. Thankfully, he was able to contact one of his 'friends' who would be able to give him replacements. He remembered the torture and extraction methods that they had used. He had been snooping around on one of the more populated planets when he was captured. That had been nearly a month ago.

* * *

Revanscar

Research Facility

18/23/12

He was quietly grabbing one of the smaller computers when a patrol spotted him. It consisted of four Marines and two Marauders. He had spend enough time around them to realise that the Union had quite and bit of firepower, and these guys had a fair amount of it. Sprinting away, he had ducked behind a nearby desk and pulled out his customised HWMA Master Assault Rifle. It had three times the normal amount of Eezo in it, making the ammunition fly much faster. Calming himself, he leaned out of cover and quickly shot one of the marines in the head. There was a quiet gurgle as a hole appeared in the orange visor of the lead marine, and he fell. Activating his tactical cloak, he ran from the site just as alarms began blaring. Behind him, he could hear the Marine talking into his comm unit. "Sir, I can see him moving in the motion sensor, but I can't fire on him as long as he's in the room. I'm pretty sure that he's got cloaking tech." Seconds later, a voice came blasting over the speakers.

"Damn it! He's got cloaking tech! Requesting scans, Ravens, and Missile Turrets! Send the alert to the rest of the base! Tell the psionics to try to sense him! We can't let the Council get our tech."

Still sprinting away from the patrol group, Saren grabbed anything that looked important and wasn't locked down, as most of the base was. Pressing himself to a wall, he slowly snuck past a few Marines that were watching the door. He snorted. _Idiots. If you wanted to watch the door for a cloaked enemy, close the door, then, when it opens, shoot through. Still, I better not complain. It's not like it's a bad thing._

Saren glanced down each hallway before stepping in. There was often at least one soldier at the end of each hall. None of them saw him, but many of them shifted slightly, before leveling their guns down the hall. That was enough to tell him that the Marines and Marauders had some sort of technology that would show them his relative position, if not the exact location. Saren peeked over his shoulder to check if there was anyone there, but when he turned around, there was a slight hiss as his cloak finally ran out. Looking at his recharge rate, he saw that he wouldn't be able to cloak for at least another few minutes. Quickly finding a corner he could hide in, he sat, and calmed himself. There was no way for the Terrans to find him, not in the washroom. Saren looked through his options. He had no way off the planet, since the Terrans had most likely found and destroyed his ship already, and the cloaking tech wouldn't even be active, so it was a sitting duck. Quietly, almost too quietly for even him to hear, the door swung open. Carefully backing up into one of the stalls, he climbed in and stood on the toilet, waiting for the person to leave. What shocked him the most was when the person spoke.

"I know you are in there, Saren Arterius. We fought on Elysium after you tried to attack the settlement." There was a pause, before the voice, male, chuckled. "Oh, right. I made you forget, didn't I? Alright, let's do this again. I am Jax Vakir, Spectre, of the Terran Dominion Special Forces."

Saren narrowed his eyes in confusion. He knew that he hadn't met anyone from the Dominion yet, and the way that the Terran had said it… it was exactly the same way that he introduced himself, to cause the most amount of fear. The smirk in the Terran's voice definitely made him aware that they had indeed met, and Saren did not finish the job. While he didn't remember this, it certainly didn't help when Jax spoke in a deathly calm voice.

"I know this base like the back of my hand. There is only one entrance into this washroom. I have rations and food, you do not. We destroyed your ship, and I doubt anything in that pack of yours can contact the Council. I can wait you out, or you can come out and fight like a man." There was a slight hesitation and a chuckle. "Bird thing. Whatever. If you don''t come out of the room in three minutes, I will assume that you want to wait me out, and I will simply barricade you in. I also give you my word that the exit of this room is not trapped in any way." Again, there was a pause, then, a dark snort. "Since you think that remaining silent will make me think that there is no one in this room, I will simply barricade the door now. You have 30 seconds." With those final words, the door of the washroom swung shut.

Saren stood there, shocked by the declaration. Quickly, he made his decision. However much he hated to admit it, there was nothing wrong with the observations that the Spectre had made. He had to leave, but in a way that didn't make it look like he was the victim. Leaving the stall, he hopped down and strode towards the door. Hesitating a bit before opening it, he scanned it with this Omni-tool. When it didn't detect anything, he cautiously took a step out. Seeing the Terran that identified himself as Jax Vakir, he had to say that he was disappointed. He had expected someone taller than him, and at least as buff. Instead, there was a 6'2" man, in some sort of armour, that had a gun that was over a metre long. He also held a knife in a very relaxed grip, indicating that he was very comfortable with it. Activating his Omni-blade, Saren approached the man cautiously.

"Alright, you're out. So, I'm Jax, and you're Saren. I challenge you to a duel. Knives or guns, your choice."

Saren narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "What do you want?"

The responding chuckle was half muted by the mask the man wore. "I want to kick your ass. And then use the tactics that you use with your targets against you."

"What do you mean?"

There was obviously a smirk beneath the mask when Jax answered him. "Oh, I don't know, how about the torture methods that you used against the son of a Hanar senator? Slowly depriving him of water, using crest clippers to slowly cut off his tentacles."

Saren started. There was no way that anyone knew about that. He had done it in a specific hideout on an asteroid that very few people knew existed. The fact that he did meant that he had a leak or this man had intelligence sources previously unknown to the galaxy.

"Actually, neither of those are true."

"Excuse me? What do you mean?"

Jax smiled. "I can read minds. Neither of those were true. As to how I knew about the Hanar, I read your mind on that."

* * *

Saren growled. Adopting an aggressive stance, he switched his Omni-blade into a reverse grip. Staring each other down, the two fighters began circling each other. Finally, Jax made a move. Standing up straight, he backed off, before bowing, never breaking eye contact. There was nothing polite or respectful in this one, it was meant to irritate, to force a mistake out of him. Saren narrowed his eyes further, but made no move to retaliate. The circling continued for several minutes, with Jax continuing to taunt and annoy the Turian SPECTRE.

When it was clear that the Terran was not going to instigate the fight, Saren rushed him. After such a long time, both fighters were unprepared for the sudden rush. Smirking, Saren slashed, intent on cutting Jax's blade in two, only to jerk back in surprise when the blade didn't separate. Shocked, but still maintaining a calm expression, he pressed his attack. A flurry of slashes and cuts began to force Jax back. Finally beginning to grin, Saren kept pushing, and was finally able to see his opponent struggle.

* * *

Jax began to sweat. He had expected someone that was really good in hand to hand combat, but this guy was better than what he was expecting. The guy was as fast as Nova, and almost had the strength of Tosh. _I'd love to see Nova or Tosh go up against this guy_. As it was, it was obvious to everyone that he was struggling. Blocking Saren's next slash, he ducked under the next cut, he slammed his shoulder into the Turian's chest before backing off. Lurching back, Saren rubbed his chest a bit. Jax stood tall, rubbing his shoulder and holding his knife in a defensive position. "If you're wondering why the blade didn't break when you attacked, it's because it's made of Neo 2. Harder than the original, and had the same weight. I can't cut through your blade, you can't cut through mine."

Saren glared at Jax, but not before noticing that it looked like Jax was struggling. He had noticed several times throughout the fight where it looked like Jax was contemplating whether or not to do something and decided not to. This irritated the SPECTRE to no end, as he wanted to face the Terran at his full strength. As it was, it was an enjoyable challenge, but if he was holding back, the Terran would regret it. Backing off, he made it clear he wasn't going to attack before he straightened. "Why are you holding back? It is clear that you are struggling, and you have something that you aren't showing me. I refuse to be treated like something less than a threat."

"You are a threat, and one to my people, but I do have my secrets." Saren growled in response to that, but didn't push it. "However," his voice cut across his thoughts. "I am willing to go out if you wish me to."

"Go for it. You were struggling before. Let's see how much better you are with this secret of yours."

Immediately, Jax glowed a soft purple, and floated a few centimetres above the ground. His eyes began to glow slightly with the same energy that he had dumped into the air.

"This," he said, gesturing around him. "This is my true ability. This purple energy is known as psionics to my people. I can augment my physical strength as well as use it to interact with the things around me. Same as your biotics, but I can also read minds. Also, from what the Geth told us, our psionics are significantly more powerful than biotics. While biotics have their perks, and it can do things that psionics can't, like lower the mass of an object, I wouldn't trade psionics for biotics for anything." Looking down at his now glowing body, he smirked. "Do you really want to go against me?"

Saren was shocked to silence when he first saw the glow beginning to appear. The fact that psionics had evolved in such a similar fashion as biotics was nothing short of astounding. Perhaps one of the Salarians would be able to determine what the difference between psionics and biotics were. Remembering that he was in a fight, he re-adopted his defensive posture. Feeling the smirk coming from his opponent scared the hell out of him, even if he would never admit it. There was no warning when the attack came. All he remembered was the blade nicking his arm as he noticed the subtle tensing of his muscles. That was the only reason why still had his arm attached. As it was, he doubted that he could still use that arm effectively. _I'll probably need that exchanged._ Gripping his Omni-tool tightly, he waited for Jax to make the next move. It didn't take long, as there was a blast of purple energy that shredded the already damaged arm off his body. Gasping in shock and pain, Saren could only stand there and stare at the space where he had previously had a limb.

"That ability is what we Spectres call Psionic Lash. Basically just focuses our psionic energies on a target and that target explodes. Some of us mastered it to the point where we could just sever a finger. I am one of those. Be glad I just took off an arm. I could have easily decided your head was more important and you would be dead." He stopped talking and grinned. "Actually, let me do the same to you as you did your guests."

Saren stared at the Terran warily. Now that he had seen the Terran fight at his full, he was absolutely terrified, and would never want to go up against him again. Still, he had to get out of the place before he was killed, and there was no way out, except through the door that Jax was currently blocking. There was a slight rustle as the Terran removed his mask. Recoiling, Saren backed up before the glowing purple eyes of the Spectre. This was the first time that he had seen the Spectre's face, and the features that seemed to have come from a happy man who smiled a lot was marred with the smirk and narrowed eyes that promised pain. With the enraged Terran in front of him and the exit further away, he did the only thing that he thought he could. Slowly extending his working arm to the side, he deactivated his Omni-blade before removing the Omni-tool from his wrist and dropping it. "I surrender," he said, dropping to his knees.

* * *

 **Good lord that was hard to write. I didn't have time,** _ **and**_ **, I had a problem with this chapter for some reason. I don't know what it was, but something just felt off with it. Anyway, I hope you liked this one. I might change my 'every other week policy' though. That will be insane. I hope I can keep up over the summer though!**

 **-IAnswerToNoOne**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey readers! What's up, and welcome to The Eternal Cycle. Some of you may have seen my recent name change, it's just a group that I think embodies me very well.**

 **CHAPTER 10! This is quite the milestone for me and I am really excited to show you this.**

 **Writer's block! I can't tell you guys how annoying it is trying to make a chapter that leads to the side plot that I wanted. I tried putting things into the story and then I kept deleting it. It just didn't work in the grand scheme of what I wanted.**

 **Also, it looks like some of you are under the assumption that I have some sort of plan for the rest of this story. I don't really have one, it is mostly just me going where the words take me. Some parts, like the fact that someone was going to be TIM was pre planned, but the way it happened was not. Everything else was just words coming off of my fingers and onto the screen.**

 **WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED? I GO TO A SUMMER CAMP WITH NO WI-FI FOR THE SUMMER AND YOU IMMEDIATELY THINK THAT THIS STORY IS ABANDONED? WELL SORRY TO DISAPPOINT YOU, BUT IT IS NOT ABANDONED.**

 **Blaze1992: Well, yeah. Hey, things have been fought over for lesser things, especially if the person that wants revenge is as petty as TIM. Sure he was intelligent, but he really doesn't do anything else. And of course! I will always answer to you guys!**

 **CReaper210: First, thank you for the compliments. And now for the rest of the Review. Again, I will basically give you the same answer. I don't know what my readers know, so I want to explain as much as I can to them. But, if you guys want, I'll stop explaining it to you.**

 **Guest-Mark: Yes! You caught it! The Batarians were not supposed to be able to finish the bargain, and as such, there would have been at least a battle once the Normandy gets to Batarian space, which will probably be in the next few chapters by the way.**

 **Hidemain: Why did they let Saren walk away after catching him? They wiped his memories. He has no recollection of the encounter.**

 **RedRat8: I tried to make it as realistic as I could. I know that some people would not react well to suddenly having aliens taking over, so I am trying to show that. This isn't going to be a 'well, the good guys get everything they want' fic. And, responding to you OC part, I will add someone as your version of Shepard. Jax was originally going to be your version of Shepard, but I made a mistake and made him a Spectre, instead of a Ghost. So … whoops? Sorry?**

 **WarFlower: Well, the Thanix was designed because of Sovereign, but in this case, I am making it resemble the Protoss Void Ray attack, instead of the red laser of death that the Reapers/Death Bringers use.**

 **DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW FAST STARCRAFT WARP IS? IT LOOKS INSTANT, BECAUSE IT IS NEVER REALLY SHOWN OR TALKED ABOUT. IF YOU HAVE INFORMATION, PLEASE TELL ME ABOUT IT.**

 **Anyway, let's get on with the chapter now shall we?**

 _ **Italic =**_ **Thoughts**

 **{ } = Protoss** **speech**

 **[ ] = Zerg hive mind speech**

 **( ) = Psionic speech**

 **《》** **= Something That I, As The Writer, Am Doing**

 **I don't own Mass Effect or Starcraft. I called Blizzard demanding for a share, but nope. I was shut down. Let's see what happens when some of their major shareholders start disappearing.**

* * *

Hanar Space

TN Impregnable

12/30/15

1145 Cycles

Nihlus stood behind the star map on the newly dubbed Impregnable. Three years in the making, the ship would be the newest addition to the fleet. It was the most advanced ship in the combined Citadel Council fleets, and one of the larger ones as well, at 1300 metres. It had the very best of Asari shields and engines, that the Salarians had tinkered with and boosted even more, and the most advanced weapon that the Salarians have ever developed. It was called the Infinite Mass Gun, which fired a projectile at such speeds that tests showed that it could crack a moon-sized body in half. While it had no explosive capability, the sheer kinetic force shattered the front half and left the rest floated through space. Sadly, while it would almost definitely be enough to stop any Union ship, it took a lot of Eezo to charge, enough to refill a cruiser, in fact, and the heat sink had to be dropped after every shot. And they only had enough space for three heat sinks of that size onboard. They also had several dreadnought-class gun emplacements on the underbelly, bow, stern and wings, with a total of 41 turrets. The Salarians had also taken a page out of the Terran's book as a new rail gun was added. It ran down the length of the entire ship and was the same barrel that the IMG was shot down. The weapon fired a shot the size of a Kodiak engine, about two metres long, and half a metre wide. While the shot was not lightened, it was a good alternative to the IMG.

The most distinguishing feature though, was it's ability to hide its thermal readings, cloaking it from enemy sensors.

Adding to that, the Salarians had also developed a new type of weapon. Instead of firing traditional explosive slugs, they would be firing a stream of metal shards that was meant more for minor damage that would accumulate. Still, unless it was updated to deal more damage, it would not be part of the Council weaponry in the larger scale. Still, it was an option that the Council was looking into. There wasn't any good proof that their shields were only effective against strong hits, but some Salarian had gotten the idea that their shields were weak against many low damage attacks. So instead of a single killing blow, it would be more like a thousand cuts to kill the beast. In this instance, the beast would be the massive 75 kilometre ship that the Union had. Still, having such a weapon that the Union did not know of would be beneficial, were a war to break out.

Staring into space, he thought of the people that he had on the ship. There were several hundred in total, nearing a thousand, but the main crew was the most advanced VI that the Citadel had ever created. It was actually based off of the Geth Consensus and was just a bunch of individual programs that joined to create a new, more effective program. Nihlus expected the program, which the programmers called *Enhanced Virtual Intelligence, or EVI, would be very useful in the future.

In addition to EVI, there were several Salarians, like Mordin Solus, a Salarian that had worked on the Genophage, Sahan Ulbana, a veteran STG Member, and several others. Much of the military force on the ship were mostly Turians with exemplary battlefield reviews, and those that were recommended by their planetary police force. These were the best of all the planets. There were some really good biotics here as well. There were thirty Asari Matriarchs, all in the Commandos, and they were very gifted and powerful.

Nihlus looked over his crew and sighed. This was the largest task force that he had ever lead, and probably the most important as well. He could only think of what would happen if this ship did not meet the Union's standards and they destroyed it. He knew it was paranoid of him, but that didn't mean that it was any less likely to happen. While it wasn't small, not by a long shot or compared to Dominion Battlecruisers, it was still quite the gnat before the size and power of the Arkships. It also didn't have the plasma cannon that the Terran Battlecruisers had. Hopefully, it was a formidable enough ship that it would pass as at least a threat.

Still, in the three years that the ship was being built, the two groups had become less wary of each other. Trading was becoming more and more common as Terran alcohol was a near delicacy, and came for a very hefty price.

"Sir, we have a single warp signature incoming. It looks consistent with the size of a 1200 metre to 1400 metre long ship."

Nihlus sighed in relief. If they had a ship that large it would probably be better for their chances. Still, a 1400 metre long ship would be a problem for them.

"Bring our shields up, but leave our weapons offline. As soon as the ship appears, I want it scanned. I want to see what we can find out about it."

"Yes sir."

Nihlus idly watched the grizzled Turian work on his monitor. He knew that he had one of, if not the best, crew members from the combined Council fleets, but that didn't stop him from feeling uneasy with the Union. They were a complete unknown. Their weapons could only be described as 'incredibly destructive', reports on the extent of their abilities, were sketchy, at best, and the amount of ships that they had was completely unknown. The best thing that they had on them was the fact that they were three races that were just allied, not unified under a single government. And even still, that was mostly speculation. When the Union attacked the Eclipse, the attacks were coordinated, but the three attacks were separate. And whenever the three species meet each other, they all had weapons and seemed wary of each other, indicating that they had a good idea of what the other was capable of. Still, it was a good thing, at least for the Citadel, that they were not under a single government. If it was, their ability to work together would be terrifying.

Looking out of the viewport, he was the stars warp for a second before a ship appeared. It was made of the same golden metal that distinguished the Protoss from other races, and had the same strange crystal that one of the Protoss ships had. But it had the hammerhead design that the Terran ships were most distinguishable by, even if it was smoother than what they had previously seen. It had the chamber that was known for its destructive capabilities, and it was covered with turrets and gun emplacements. There was nothing visibly 'Zerg' about the ship, but that meant nothing. It could have easily been crewed by Zerg organisms taught to operate such a ship.

While Nihlus looked at the design of the ship, the sensors officer and the communications officer went to work. The sensors officer began to scan the ship, trying to figure out what the ship was, and what its capabilities were. What he saw shocked him.

"Uhhhh, sir? These readings… they make no sense. This ship must be using the energy required to power a ship four or five times its size! And that's for a Terran ship, not one of ours."

Nihlus would have stood to see it himself, but the communications officer flagged him down first.

Bracing himself to meet the Union for the first time as a representative for the Citadel, he sat up straight and stared at the holo where a Terran's face slowly appeared. He was pale, and had black fur coming from his head. It wore a grey uniform so dark it looked black, and it had red lines running through it. The massive gun slung on his back made it obvious that he was comfortable with it, and was willing to fight at any moment. The Terran looked nothing like James Raynor, but was obviously high on the chain of command. It's mouth opening into a grin, much like an Asari's, and smiled at the Turian.

"Hello Nihlus Kryik. I am Jax Vakir, the second in command of the Union's Normandy. I trust this will be a peaceful meeting?"

Nihlus nodded, grateful that the threat of having to defend themselves was a much smaller possibility. "Yes, I agree." Suddenly, the indicator that meant that the sensors officer wanted his attention started blinking. Seeing the light, the SPECTRE nodded. "Sorry, but as you can tell, there is something that I must attend to. I apologise for this."

Jax waved his comment off. "It's fine. As the second in command of a ship, I know how busy it can be. Go to your duties."

Nodding easily, the Turian disconnected. Rushing over to the officer's side, he looked over the Salarian's shoulder. "What is it? What have you found?"

"This is mostly speculation sir, but I judging by the amount of power that the core is outputting, and the amount of wiring and circuits under the hull makes me believe that this ship has something that most of the other Terran ships don't have. I think it's either a self-repair mechanism, a shield that covers the skin of the ship, or some sort of holographic projector. A cloaking device maybe?"

Nihlus' breath hitched. If the Union could create a ship that large that had the ability to cloak, then their ability to roam around Council space would be almost unrestricted.

"Is it possible that this could be the Terran Cloaking technology? That would be amazing. I would love to see the interior of such a ship."

Nihlus' thoughts were elsewhere however, as he was thinking about the ethics of having a ship that is able to cloak completely in another government's space. Was that within the boundaries that they had set between the two? Or did it never come back up? Could they have intentionally avoided that topic, hoping that the Council forgot? Shaking his head, he calmed himself. Perhaps this wasn't even cloaking technology. It could easily have been a self-repair. Going to his seat again, he looked over at the communications officer. Understanding the SPECTRE's intentions, he opened the channel between the ships once again, only to see darkness and

"Hello? We had just finished scanning your ship, and I am wondering what the mechanism just below the surface of your ships is. My officers have speculated that it could be a self-repair, a cloaking, or a shield. Could you provide us some insight? I am worried that this may damage our relationship even more, as if it is cloaking, it was not discussed, and it may be unethical to bring such a whip into our space. You would be able to roam wherever you wish, and no one would be able to stop you."

A dark laugh returned to answer his comments. This was a different voice, female. This figure was hidden in the shadows. All the lights had turned off, and they could only see the legs of the speaker. "Well, as it was not discussed, it would not be 'illegal'. Is it unethical? Perhaps. Your inability to stop us? Your travel speed is slower than ours, but it is in such a fashion that we cannot detect. So we are both going to be ghosts within each other's space. We are on even footing."

Nihlus stared intently at the screen intently, trying to see who it was behind the mask. It obviously wasn't the Terran that they had just seen, Jax, but the broadcast was from the ship, so this was either the captain of the ship, or the commander of their division. "Minerva Shepard, is it?"

The figure leaned forwards. She looked like an Asari Maiden, young, and energetic. But she had a dark look around her. The vibes that she gave off were… wrong. It felt like she was giving off an aura that radiated power. Normally, that alone wouldn't be bad, but the fact that she was going to be in Council space might be a problem. Especially if she kills anyone in Council space. If the Turian military had to get involved, then he would have to play damage control. And he really hated paperwork.

Staring at the figure, he stood down. "Fine. I guess that's true. But this ship can cloak as well. We were not going to activate it unless we had to. We expect the same courtesy in return."

Minerva stared at the Turian for what seemed like an excessively long time before nodding. "Fine. I will only activate the cloaking if we need it." Glancing at the chrono, Minerva looked at Nihlus. "I hope that we will see each other much more in the future. It was a delight to meet you."

Nihlus nodded. He tried to discern whether or not she was being serious or sarcastic, but unfortunately could not. "A pleasure to meet you as well. Unfortunately, our time here is short. I will see you soon, Commander."

Minerva quirked a smile in amusement. "And I, you." With that, the communication was terminated and the bridge fell silent.

"Sir, was that a good meeting?"

Nihlus smiled. "Yes, yes it was."

* * *

Hanar Space

DF Normandy

12/30/12

1200 Hours

Entering warp, the crew of the DF Normandy sat in silence. There were engineers, both Quarians and Terrans, gunners, ground forces and technicians. This was a mostly Terran ship, although there was space for Protoss, Zerg and Geth beings if need be. There was a contingent of Geth on the ship, nearly two hundred strong, and a small Protoss group, no more than 50 Adepts and Zealots. While the Protoss and Zerg were part of the Union, they had no reason to meet with the Citadel, and had no intent to. The Terran ground task force comprised of Marines, Marauders, Cyclones, Siege Tanks, and the two Thors. Surprisingly, there was also a contingent of Quarians on the ship as well. While they were mostly there as tech support for the ground forces, and the fact that there was a Council species there would hopefully help their political stance. They were given Impalers, and had all been briefed on how to use them. The air force had two squadrons of Demi-Angels, 2 squadrons of Wraiths, and six Medivacs. While the Terrans were curious of the Citadel, they had no real reason to commune with the Citadel either. They were self-sufficient, but it was no surprise that being able to have another government as an ally would be good in case anything happened. The main reason why the Terrans had agreed to ally with the Citadel was the potential threat that the Death Bringers could have. They were strong enough to destroy a unified civilisation that spanned the galaxy. Anyone or anything that could do that would be a threat. Having someone that they could hopefully rely on would be most beneficial to their cause.

Minerva watched the stars fly by as the ship traveled through warp. The two ships had parted ways and had entered the other's space. In this instance, they had left amicably, and they had no immediate animosity. Still, the two groups were very cautious when entering each other's space. They had very little idea of what they would meet if they did meet someone.

She watched the stars fall back into place as the ship exited warp. The Normandy was the most advanced Terran ship in the fleet. It was covered with Adanium, the metal that the Protoss uses on top of the Neo2 armour, and had the same shield generators that the Protoss used. It had one Yamato cannon, but that was upgraded by putting a Khaydarin crystal in front of the beam. While the crystal doesn't necessarily make the attack more powerful, it focuses the beam on a smaller area and makes the already destructive attack even more damaging. Projections showed that it could theoretically destroy a continent, and the plasma that lingers would leave the area uninhabitable for three years. The crystal could be removed from the cannon, and the Yamato blast could fire normally. Still, even without the Yamato cannon, the Normandy was a beast. With 220 ATA batteries, and 175 anti-ground gun emplacements, it was more than a match for a Minotaur-class Battlecruiser. It could even take care of a Loki-class. And that was just in a straight up fight. If the Normandy activated it's cloaking, it would have the ability to destroy nearly every ship that it came across. The ship had actually been designed years before, but the Terrans did not have a reason to create such a ship after the peace Treaty was signed. The only reason that the designs were dusted off was so that the Citadel would be able to see how much firepower the Union had. The ship had actually been under construction by the time that the Council asked for the embassy. The ship got the newest Adjutant, a mark X, the most advanced and most expensive Adjutant ever made. It could run a Loki-class without any personnel, but that was pushing its limits. It was faster than the one the Raiders used in their campaign against Mengsk, even after the changes that Stetmann made. It had the best processor in the Terran forces and was an essential part of the ship. It also acted as the Executive Officer, so that was a bonus. Much less paperwork for Minerva and Jax.

Staring out into space, Jax looked over at the crew. "Set a course for Illium." He grinned. "No place better than a casino to meet new people."

Watching the clock, he waited for the second hand to hit 15. "Mark."

Entering Warp, the ship left the system that they were in and reappeared in the Illium system.

"Is our cloaking active?"

"No sir. Sensors are detecting 20 other ships in the area. Most of them are civilian class vessels, but we have four Turian cruisers headed in our direction. It looks like they are on an intercept course. They are powering up their weapons and have activated their shields. How should we announce our diplomatic status?"

Clenching her teeth, Minerva sat forwards. "Dammit," she cursed softly. "Get Nihlus on the comm now!" Looking out at the approaching ships, she snarled quietly. "And until we get communications, fly circles around them. Activate shields, but leave weapons unpowered. I want to keep diplomatic functions as much as we can." Watching the crew scramble to obey, Minerva kept her gaze on the incoming ships. She knew that had there been an engagement, the Normandy would have little trouble against them if they activated their cloaking and used the Yamato, but their purpose was to promote a peaceful interaction between them.

"Communications established."

Pushing the answer button, she started growling into the microphone. "Nihlus! I thought that we were supposed to have diplomatic immunity! Why do I have four Turian cruisers on my ass?"

There was an audible growl coming from the other end. "Why do I have two Frigates on mine?"

Shocked into silence, Minerva's mind flew through all the possible reasons why they would both have ships trying to get them. "Nihlus, are these escorts?"

"Those are the ships that were assigned as escorts?" He sighed audibly. "I asked them to have two destroyers act as your escort. They probably didn't think that that would be enough. Still haven't told me why I have two Frigates on my ass."

Minerva frowned as she considered the possibilities. "Are there any markings on the ships?"

"None. Not even the name of the ship."

Cursing, Minerva looked at the helmsman. "Get us over there, now!" Turning back to the Turian, who was still on screen, she spoke. "Stay away from them. They could be part of a splinter group, or they could be pirates. They will kill you if they get the chance. Shoot back, and run for now. We're coming."

Disconnecting the call, she ordered the ship to enter warp, back into Union space.

Nihlus gripped the armrests of his chair as another missile impacted against the Impenetrable's shields. At least they're not Battlecruisers. We wouldn't have chance against their energy weapons. But if they were Battlecruisers, we could at least outrun them! Glancing at the chrono, he waited impatiently for the Normandy to arrive. He watched the GARDIAN program work overtime to block as many projectiles as it could. Even though the missiles were packed with explosives, it didn't matter because the speed that they were traveling at was nothing close to what the Council ships was used to. There were just so many, that it was overwhelming its ability to block them. Still, the lasers did their jobs, and most of the missiles were detonated in space. What was more annoying though were the red lasers that blocked their shots. Since the red lasers stopped every single one of his shots, neither side was actually damaging the other. Considering the use of the new LANCE weapon, Nihlus eventually decided against it. If these ships were to discover the strength of the _Impenetrable_. Then it would be wise to not show it's true power just yet. It was a brutal stalemate, one that changed the instant the Normandy appeared with guns blazing. Within half a minute, two of the ships were destroyed, and one was a crippled husk. The last one, finally reacting to the unknown ship, disappeared into warp.

Nihlus sighed in relief as he watched his counterpart drifted through space. Even though they may have gotten them into this position, the fact that they had just destroyed pirates without a second thought, and the four ships as well, gave him reason to at least consider the fact. Seemingly reading his mind, the communications officer nodded and activated the comm unit, obviously trying to speak with their Terran counterpart. Immediately getting an answer, Nihlus ran over to the unit and started snarling right into the camera. "Are you kidding me? Are you absolutely serious? Not even five minutes into your space, and we get attacked by what you assumed were pirates."

Minerva held up her hand to forestall the rest of the rant. "Well, I did assume that they were pirates, and rightfully so. They were a group of Kel-Morian pirates that have been evading us for the last few months. So, I suppose I should thank you."

Nodding wearily, Nihlus motioned with his hand to keep the shields up. He didn't trust them quite yet, even if they did just save them.

"Still, I must say that I am impressed with your ship's abilities. Not many ships would be able to survive a fight against four Frigates. And yet you did with negligible damage. I can tell you with complete honesty that this ship would have taken at least a few hits, even with the shields." Shaking her head, she looked off-screen. "We would take a few hits, right?" Apparently receiving an answer, she nodded and looked over at the Citadel ship again. "Apparently, your ship is faster than ours at sub-luminal speeds, which explains why you could outrun them, but we are faster at superluminal speeds. Nice."

Nihlus just stood there is mostly shock. How could she be so calm after destroying three ships that were all of cruiser size? And how used to war were they if they could just pop out of warp and start shooting? It was as if they were expecting something, and they knew how to deal with it. What only came with experience. While some of the Turian naval forces might be able to replicate the ruthless efficiency that the Terrans had shown, it would only be the older, much more experienced members. While the Union would obviously send the best of the best, to have a dreadnought with that ability, staffed by crew with no mercy? Moving the communications officer out of the way, he stared at the amused Terran female.

"What game are you playing at? There is no way that you should have been able to identify their ships as hostile unless you knew that they were hostile. Answer me honestly. Did you set this up?"

Minerva shook her head. "No, I didn't set this up. As to how we were so comfortable just firing as soon as we exited warp? We know what your ship looked like, and we know what we were expecting, so we fired on what wasn't you."

"No, I mean, why are you so comfortable with shooting at other Terrans?"

Recognition bloomed in Minerva's eyes as she leaned back into her chair. Contemplating whether or not to answer the Turian, she closed her eyes and rolled her head back. Finally coming to a decision, she looked Nihlus dead in the eyes and spoke. "We Terrans have not always been united. Not 15 years ago, there were three main powers. The Terran Dominion, which you are undoubtedly familiar with, the Kel-Morian Combine, and the Umojan Protectorate. The Dominion was the most outspoken. They held all the secrets and the leader, well he ruled by fear. They took over any planets that tried to stay 'neutral', and were corrupt enough to sacrifice planets in order to appease the Zerg for a bit, and to protect the core worlds. They intentionally did this as well. The Umojans were the opposite. They were very open with their citizens, and would accept anyone that wasn't a criminal and needed help, which lead them to the name Protectorate. The Kel-Morians were in the middle somewhere, but they had the largest criminal population of the three powers. Mostly pirates and smugglers. The only thing we have done with the other powers were destroy as many ships as we could. The Kel-Morians used Frigates mostly, as you could see, and the Umojans used Battlecruisers that they adapted and updated to be better than ours technologically. We killed each other, with no mercy, and no qualms about who we killed. For all we knew, that ship could have been a slaver ship, or it could have been a flying restaurant. Most of the smart captains stayed away from each other's space, but that doesn't mean that skirmishes didn't happen. Anyway, that is why we are so used to destroying our own. Just be glad that we didn't kill those four cruisers."

Nihlus raised his hands in defense. "Hey, I only told them to send two Turian destroyers to act as an escort. I wanted two just in case one broke down, or ran out of fuel. To have four that were in an aggressive stance…" he trailed off without finishing the thought. They all knew what he was thinking. Those captains were in for a rough time.

Minerva only stared. "Now that that excitement is over, maybe we could go back to our original plan of going to each other's space?"

Nihlus nodded before remembering something. "Wait. Could we have a map of your space? We didn't get one, and you got one from the Geth. We were just going to hop between stars until we found one that had Terran life. A star chart would be nice to have."

Minerva looked as interested as ever, which was nothing at all. It seemed like she only had two expressions. The scary grin, and that emotionless, blank mask. Turning off-screen, she motioned for one of the officers to send the chart. Seeing the questioning look that Nihlus shot her, she replied to the unasked question. "I'm giving this to you freely because I want to make this as even as I can. I don't want to have an advantage over you. Plus, not knowing where you are going when you're in space is not a good idea. As I have told the Dominion where your destination will most likely be, i will tell you that I am going to the Citadel. I think it will be the best place to start." After she finished speaking, Nihlus caught her lips moving but heard no sound. He was not yet accustomed to reading Terran lips, and had no idea what she was talking about. Whatever it was, it seemed personal, and not something that he should inquire about, unless he wanted to destroy his ship.

Minerva opened her mouth as if to say something, but then simply said: "I wish you luck."

Nihlus frowned, that was obviously not what she was going to say. Nodding anyway, he ended the communication. "What is the nearest populated planet around here?"

"Uhhhhh, it looks like a planet called Shanxi. The planet itselfis a standard one for the Koprulu Sector, with many plateaus, has a population of about 5 billion, and has a 'decent' military force." Looking up at the SPECTRE, the Asari continued. "I don't know how small a 'decent' force is, but considering that this is the Union we're talking about, I wouldn't be surprised if their idea of small was 20% of their total population. So, a billion in forces, ground and air. I supposed that you wanted to see what their standing forces before trying to see how their civilians lived. If that was incorrect of me to assume such a thing, I apologise."

He waved her off. "You were correct to assume that. I hoped to see what their military looked like, and how it functioned. Just in case we went to war with them. Actually," he mused. "Why would they need to send a ship into our space? The Geth could tell them everything that they want. Are they just trying to cozy up to us?"

The rest of the crew looked around uneasily. Edide gripped the arms of his chair tightly. "I think that they are trying to get into our good graces, but not for the reasons that we might expect. Remember how they kept denying the fact that they wanted to be allies? I think that they do want to be allies with us, but they want to see if being allied with us is worth it in the larger scheme of things. Remember the Death Bringers that they kept talking about? I wonder if they want us as allies so that they don't have to deal with two enemies at once. With your permission, I would like to know if we could have some of the archaeologists check some of our own ruins to see what they can turn up. If any of the Protheans knew about the Death Bringers."

"Granted."

"I want to see if the Union is willing to talk to us some more. If you are correct and this is their end-game goal… Maybe we should tell the Council to build more ships. If the Union is scared enough to become our allies, then I think we should take this threat seriously as well."

The Asari stood at attention. "I have a friend who works in the field of archaeology. I think that she would be willing to help us. I wonder if she has found anything yet."

"Anything with information of the Death Bringers will help us. Go ahead." Nihlus sighed as he looked at the crew. While none of them were visibly shaken by the fact that they were just assaulted by pirates, Nihlus knew how they must have been feeling. He himself was feeling the same way. That, if nothing else proved how dangerous these new waters were. "Let's go to Shanxi. Let's get this diplomatic stuff out of the way."

Nihlus snarled, his mandibles flaring as he looked at the fleet protecting the colony. There were three Battlecruisers, as well as a few other ships. Two of the Battlecruisers seemed like they were there for supplies though, if the large containers and the dropships were anything to go by. Still, they represented a significant amount of firepower. If the Impenetrable was to engage, he had no doubt that they would be damaged. Still, with their superior maneuverability, they would be all right.

"Send a message to the ship. Tell them that we are the Citadel diplomats, and ask permission to land. Agree to any terms that they have. Be as submissive as we can. I want to let them tell us as much as they can. Edide, tell the Commandos to gear up. I want to send all of them just in case something goes wrong. Bring Vakarian, and Solus as well. I want ranged support, and I want samples brought back. If anyone has any other suggestions, I am open to them. None, well, then. Let's land."

"Sir, I have established communications. They are requesting the ship's ID."

Nihlus stood. Of course they would want that. "Tell them that this is the *TN Impenetrable, Direct Ambassador for the CC. If they still don't let us through, get Minerva on the unit again. Actually, I hope that they could get onto whatever planet that they wanted to land on."

"This is the Terran Battlecruiser White Star. You have permission to land on Shanxi. Please follow the instructions to land on the designated platform. Your weapons are permitted on the base. You will have a small guard force, four Marines. This is not negotiable. However, the amount of guards may go down after time, depending on your actions."

Nihlus idly noted that the platform that they were to land on was in the dead centre of a main military base. The base itself was bristling with the rotating peaks of Missile Turrets and had several dreadnought-class ships on hand, designated 'Frigates' by the Terrans. There were no Battlecruisers at the base though. Perhaps they could not land on planets. Still, having this many ships around them would not be giving any of the crew good feelings towards the Union.

Turning to his second, he mulled over who he should bring. It appeared as though the Terrans would allow up to five people to go with him as he went planetside. In the end, he decided to allow two biotics, as well as one of the STG scientists join him. When they did, he started issuing orders. "Benjam, I want you in charge of this ship's security. Don't let any of the Terrans to scan it. We do want some secrets. The rest of you, I want an active ship security at all times. Vakarian, Solus, Karmodle, SPECTRE Vasir, come with me. I want you to be ready to fight our way out, but try not to do anything that could appear hostile. Ready?" At the answering nods, he nodded firmly himself. "Let's go."

Walking down the ramp was a bit strange. Sure, going down a ramp itself was normal, but having several others at his back, as well as having more than a few guns pointed in his direction was less than welcome. Still, he was not deterred and marched right up to what appeared to be the commanding officer. Inclining his head slightly, he bowed to the Terran. "I am SPECTRE Nihlus Kryik, commanding officer of this group. May I ask who you are?"

The Terrans around the Turian started to shuffle nervously as he stood in front of the Terran. He was dressed in a formal black military uniform, with golden chains and epaulettes. Narrowing his eyes, he spoke.

"Welcome to Shanxi. I am Admiral Matt Horner, of Raynor's Raiders. I heard from Commander Shepard that you were probably coming here. As it is, welcome. This is Shanxi, the planet that the Raiders decided to settle on after the war." Turning on his heel, he gestured for Nihlus and his group to follow him as they talked. A few Marines came to attention and flanked them, two on either side. "This probably isn't the best example of a 'standard' Terran planet. But for you to understand that, I have to tell you a bit about Terran history. The government you know now is called the Dominion. The previous Terran government was the Confederacy. The Confederacy was a … well, to say that it was a very corrupt government would be a massive understatement. Splinter groups were popping up all over the place. Raynor joined one of them as an ally. His name was Arcturus Mengsk. A few years before the Raiders were formed, the Confederacy found the Zerg. They were raised in a lab, but the Zerg eventually broke out. The Zerg ended up taking over the planet. And began to spread out across the stars after that. They took over the entire system, and then, we made First Contact with the Protoss. They wanted to 'purify' the planet, which meant glassing it. The planet that the Zerg took over also had Raynor's girlfriend on it, who you now know as Kerrigan."

Matt paused as he realised that Nihlus was no longer following him. Backing up he waved his hand in front of the Turian's face. "Nihlus!"

Slowly shaking himself out of his stupor, Nihlus turned and stared at the Terran. "Do you mean to tell me that the Zerg Queen was a Terran at one point?"

Matt nodded. "Yes."

Nihlus stared at Matt unbelievingly. Sure, the Queen looked like a Terran, but he had never expected her to actually have been one. Looking a Matt again, he motioned for him to continue the story, before starting to walk again. Looking around, he noticed all of the fortifications. Bunkers and pillboxes dotted the landscape, and when there was a natural chokepoint in between the plateaus, there would be a row of buildings, blocking it. Turning back to the conversation, he looked over at Matt and listened once more.

"I can't tell you everything about what happened afterwards, as it's classified, but I can tell you this. The Raiders were formed and we started a decade-long campaign against Mengsk. Anyways, the Raiders were an insurgent group that eventually won. We overthrew the previous leader, and the next one stepped up. The Zerg, now under a more understanding queen was a third power in the Sector, but one that was rarely seen. Valerian is a good leader. Sill, most of the Raiders here would never live on a planet that is controlled by the Dominion, so we went out and found our own planet to live on. And here we have Shanxi." Nihlus stopped talking and looked out over the settlement. Matt had lead him to the op of a cliff, and from this position he could see the entire settlement. There was an Orbital Command, several Barracks', a couple Factories and three Starports. All this surrounded the main airbase. It had a single landing strip, but had several dozen landing pads. It appeared that most Terran ships could land with no runway. Nihlus stared down and looked at the people there. They were all working on something. There was a small building that a lot of the guys would go into, and only a few would stagger out as he watched. That alone was enough to tell him what it was; the bar. Apparently, some things happened to all soldiers.

Matt looked out over the colony with undisguised pride. "Shanxi is the Raider's base of operations. While these guys revolting anymore, with Valerian being the Emperor and all, the Raiders are basically the glue between the three Koprulu races. With the Zerg not really needing anything, and the Protoss having everything that they could possibly need, and more, the Raiders are basically the mediator for all three of us. Jim is the glue actually. He's the only one that all three races trust implicitly."

Nihlus looked around the settlement thoughtfully. Maybe there was more to the Union than what originally met the eye.

* * *

Uninhabited Planet in Citadel Space

STG Taskforce

"Has there been any reaction?"

"No sir. It looks like they are completely unaware of us."

"Good. Now go send this to the Council. I want them to know that the Union has a Protoss vessel and a Zerg Hive Cluster in our space.

* * *

SAY GOODBYE TO CANON! I am making a few major changes to the Starcraft storyline. Obviously, the epilogue never happened, and everything else that I changed will affect the story later on. My brother actually accidentally gave me an idea earlier, and I just couldn't let go. I hope you like it!

I still need an exit phrase…

ZF IAnswerToNoOne


End file.
